Found Out
by Genesis Chi
Summary: When Conor threatens the secret of Ingo, Faro must protect his people, but doing so means choosing between Ingo and Sapphire. / Sapphire is sixteen, and has just finished her GCSE's and is waiting for the results, her attention is divided between Conor and Faro, both have changed since Elvira left. Can she fix two broken hearts?
1. Memories of the Past (Goodbye Elvira)

**So, this is my first ever fanfic, I've only ever done original work before. Just hope I can match some of the rest of you's brilliance. Enjoy. xxx GC**

* * *

"What is it Faro? What's wrong?" I had asked upon racing down the cove after hearing him call so relentlessly for me. I flopped to my knees on the sand, trying to get my breath back.

"Conor was supposed to come too. We called for him also. Where is your brother, Sapphire?" Faro demanded, as if it were my fault that Conor hadn't raced to answer the summoning in quite the same frantic way.

I forced myself to sit up, still whooping in air, wonderful air into my temporarily starved lungs – I don't think I had ever run that fast anywhere, but I had to put the portcullis around my mind before Faro could read it, see that his distress had reached me no matter how hard he'd tried to hide it. "I... Don't... Know..." I panted out, "He'll be here... in a minute." I finally gasped out, after hearing Conor's pounding footsteps above and behind me.

Faro scowled at me, making his displeasure roll through my mind like a tidal wave, along with badly-hidden urgency. What was Faro so panicked about, it was almost like the way Mum got when I was running late for stupid school.

"Saph? You okay?" Conor asked, pulling me up. There was a bleeding scratch on the back of his hand – must've brushed one of the more unfriendly rocks.

"Yeah, Con, ran too fast."

"Enough chit-chat! We need to go!" Faro shouted angrily, throwing a pulling sensation into my head, as if he could force me to move that way.

Conor and I glanced at each other in that way only siblings could, our eyes spoke legions to each other when we wished, all we said right now was 'What could be so pressing?' But, regardless of how childish Faro was acting for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old, we walked into the waves.

Breaking through was simple now, there was no transition or pain, nor even the struggle to block out the world of Air. I belonged to Ingo, and she would welcome me with open arms, pretending I was her own, just as my dear whale does.

_Welcome, Friend-Of-Ingo._ The sea whispers, using a slight current to wash the hair from my face.

"Hello Moryow!" I yelled aloud, embracing empty water, and my voice caused a few fish to flicker away, and a crab to click his claws at me huffily, as if I was mad – which I probably seemed from doing something so bizarre.

Conor seemed to agree with the fish and crab, by staring at me weirdly, like I was something from another world.

Faro, however smiled as he took my wrist, letting our woven bracelets touch, almost appearing to fuse into one single, beautiful piece of adornment. But surely it was Faro's hair making it seem so perfect?

…

Sapphire... I had called her, and she had come, she always came. But... then again, more often than I would like, so did her brother. The said brother was watching me cautiously, as if I were some foreign creature other than Mer, one he had never encountered, and had no reason to trust. Why the sudden animosity? Conor had always got on my nerves, but I did my best to keep that to myself – we had a laugh sometimes, but he was so... so... close to Sapphire.

That was it, that was when I realised that I hated Conor, hated him with a passion. Not because of anything to do with him, but because he was one of the tiny collection of things that stopped Sapphire from belonging in Ingo. If it were not for Conor, she would come more often, and not spend all her time thinking about going home. If Conor did not exist, then she would be all mine, and nothing would prevent me from spending time with her.

Sapphire, brave and wonderful Sapphire, who was smiling at me as we tried to untangle our deubleks. Her teeth showed when she grinned, they were a little crooked, and not quite white, but so strangely cute that I decided that making her smile would be one of my goals for the rest of my life.

"What was so important you had us run down to the cove in the middle of the night?" Conor asked, breaking the magic of my study of Sapphire. "Saph could've broken her neck going that fast in the dark!" he fumed like a geyser.

No... Oh no... I hadn't thought of that, hadn't realised the danger of Air at night. But Sapphire always gave the impression that Air was safe for her! No. I had to stop panicking, or she would see it in my thoughts.

"My sister, that's what's important!" I snapped, angry, not with Conor, but with myself for the thought that had rolled around in my head for some time. The thought that if I had to decide, I just might choose Sapphire over Elvira.

Sapphire floated gracefully in the water, reddish-brown hair like some seaweeds but shining in the moonlight as it drifted around her face, framing those shrewd brown eyes. "Elvira is leaving, isn't she?" Sapphire bit her lower lip as she murmured the event that was trying to tear my heart to pieces.

Even if I had to make the choice and chose Sapphire, it would destroy me to lose my sister, my true sister, my hwoer. And that's exactly what was happening, my first and now my only sister was leaving, declaring that that North was more important to her than I – but Sapphire was here, with me, and I would _not_ be attempting that Air thing called 'crying'.

…

I squeezed his hand, somehow feeling that he needed to know that I was here, I would always be here, I wouldn't ever leave him like Elvira was about to.

_But you do,_ whispered a cruel voice in my head, _you always leave, you always go home and leave him alone to wait for you. What kind of life is that for him? What kind of life is it when you spend it all waiting for someone you don't know is going to come back?_

I told the voice to shut up, and did my best to blank my thoughts from Faro so he could not see that I was already thinking about how tired I would be at school tomorrow, how I was going to almost certainly fall asleep during maths.

_No, _I told myself, _you need to focus on Faro, and how much he's hurting. You need to make him feel better. You need to fill the void his sister once belonged in. You need to close the wound she's giving him, you need to love it closed._

I really hoped Faro was not trying to read my thoughts, because it was very hard to send him waves of reassurance and friendship when also having a million thoughts a second, _and_ keep all the embarrassing ones hidden in safes.

…

Sapphire was hiding her mind, I could feel the smooth walls surrounding whatever she was thinking, but I knew I could break in if I wanted – I was better than she, had had more practise with such things – but I wasn't going to. I had always laughed when she begged for privacy with her thoughts, but from how much I was trying to hide right now, I could understand the reasoning, and promised to never force my way into her head.

My tail powered the two of us along, and a small but powerful current took us near enough to where the family waited. All of my small bunch of relatives were there: Aunt Mellina, Cousin Mordowrgi, and a few of Elvira's teachers and friends who I didn't really care to notice. Saldowr had made a point of not being present for whatever reason.

My attention was wholly on the dark red hair of my sister as she hugged her baby cousin. She looked up and smiled faintly upon seeing me and Sapphire, then turned her gaze to Conor with a mournful expression. "Well... um, hello Conor and Sapphire." she handed Mordowrgi back to Mellina and swam to us in three strokes "I wasn't exactly expecting all this Faro." she stated, for some reason looking at Sapphire, not me.

"Did you think I was going to let you leave without saying goodbye?"

"No, but this is a bit more than... Oh my brother, can you please stop looking at me like that?! I am going to the North so I can belong, and be happy. Don't you want me to be happy, gevell?"

I relinquished Sapphire's hand to draw my gavelles to me, holding her tightly and having to grit my teeth painfully so as to keep the promise I made myself to not suddenly 'cry'. "Of course I want you happy, Elvy. But why can't you be happy here?"

She drew back to frown at me "How many times Faro? How many times must I tell you not to call me Elvy, that was my baby name."

"At least once more." I replied, as always, to watch the small smile that followed the words.

"Oh my brother, if only you would all come North with me, then my heart would not be breaking."

"I'm happy here." _With Sapphire,_ I added silently, blocking the thought from all of them.

"And I'm happy there, so you see, we can only resolve this by my going and your staying."

I sighed, knowing that all eyes were on us, and feeling one pair in particular gave me the courage to say "Then I guess we have no choice but to let you go."

Elvira nodded, her gaze over my shoulder showed the distant look of her mind being elsewhere "Conor wants to speak with you, quite vehemently in fact. I would suggest you speak with him before I go." then she swum immediately to Sapphire, who, with a single pulse of fear, followed my sister to solitude.

My heart began to pound as I went to Conor. I wasn't afraid of what he'd say to me, I was scared what Elvira was saying to Sapphire, what was she saying about me?

Conor's arms were folded, and he looked as serious as I'd ever seen him, with rage carefully hidden in his brown eyes. "I just wanted you to know something. If my sister were not here I would have hit you by now, but since she is, I'll have to do something else to dissuade you from ever touching her again."

What?

"How _dare_ you touch her? She's fourteen, a child! And here you are already trying to follow in your aunt's... example and lure _my sister_ to become Mer!"

"But—"

"No! I'm not finished, _you_ are. If you ever touch my sister again, you'll regret it, because I'll know. While you were in a trance staring at her, I made it so I'll feel it if you make contact with any part of her."

I did not know Conor's abilities here in Ingo, so had to believe him when he said it was possible. "But I'd never hurt h—"

"I don't care! You're going to end up making her turn Mer and leave her family. And I'm not going to let you." he smiled bitterly.

"Even if I did, and I don't," Though I'd certainly thought about it while watching her swim so slowly beside me "How would you stop me?" I was genuinely curious then.

"I'll reveal Ingo if you do." he stated simply, with no particular intonation, but it sent a shiver all the way to the tip of my tensed tail.

"You wouldn't." I countered, hoping severely that it was true.

"If you have Ingo take my sister, then you make Ingo my enemy, and you've already seen what I can do if I must."

This was not the Conor I had once known, this Conor seemed to take pride in the decimation of Ervys being his doing, instead of the horror that he had felt before. I had heard that killing changes people, but had never really believed Conor capable of this... malicious tone.

What could I do? I couldn't say anything in rebuke, out of plain fear of what he'd do. But how could I live without touching Sapphire? What if she needed me to? What if she were in danger?

I had to tell her. But I couldn't. How could I tell her that Conor had done such a thing? She would begin to fear her brother. What's more, how could I tell her how I felt about her... No. I mustn't tell her a thing, and I must somehow live the rest of my life without her – for if I was near her, I would want to touch her, hold her hand, her wrist, touch that soft flesh, the fine bones of her face.

No. I could not bear to think of what I was to lose.

"So, Faro, what's it to be? My sister? Or Ingo?"

I couldn't breathe, my chest was being crushed like when we were all in the Deep together. How could I betray Sapphire like this? How could I do such a betrayal to myself? "Ingo..." I mumbled miserably.

Conor smiled "Good, good fish-boy."

And I could not lash out at him for saying that. For fear that he would destroy my world by opening it to the Air and wrath of humans. I should never have trusted a human with the wonder of Ingo!

Oh Sapphire, what have I done...

…

"Elvira? What is it you wanted to tell me?" I asked when she finally stopped, and Faro and the others were tiny specks in the distance.

Elvira pushed her hair from her face "I know we have not always got along Sapphire, but we both care about Faro, do we not?"

"Um..." where was she going with this "I guess so."

Elvira grinned "You _guess_ so? Well, I happen to know so, Faro has called you his hwerik since the day he met you, and recently he stopped. Why is that Sapphire?"

"Because I'm not little. In fact, I'm nearly sure that I would be taller than him, if he were human."

Elvira laughed, and I felt a wave of jealousy at the beauty of the sound. "Well, I do not know about that, but, I must ask you do something for me, for Faro really." she had a cheeky glint in her eye as she added that last.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Look after him. He pretends to be brave and conceited, but he's really... vulnerable in certain ways." I blinked at her in disbelief, but she carried on "He's in so much pain even at the idea of my leaving. I just hope you can make him, well, how can I put this? The best way I can say is, just, you know, make him get on with his life."

"You want me to help him _get over it_?"

"Yes. Yes that is exactly the human phrase I was looking for."

"Um... How can_ I _put this? To be honest, I think that's a bit of a mean thing to say, he has a right to be upset, someone he's known all his life is leaving."

"To be happier!" Elvira scowled slightly "Oh Sapphire, I am going to a place I belong, and I know you cannot ever feel what its like, and I'm so sorry, but please, please, let me go."

"Okay Elvira. I understand, but I still think Faro should be allowed to, well, grieve."

"I'm not going to Limina, Sapphire, I'm going North."

"I know, but you're not going to be in his life anymore, and that's the definition of grieving, it doesn't have to be someone who's dead."

"Oh..."

"Was that all?"

"I hope you're better for him than I was." she answered, and began back to her farewell party.

I floated for a while, trying to understand whatever message she was trying to get across with her fancy words. When I thought I'd found one, I sincerely hoped I was wrong.

When we were all there, everyone hugged Elvira, and said their piece, then watched her form departing North. It seemed such a weak goodbye after all the build-up, a real anticlimax. All I wanted to do was have a little cry over how sad it was, how the water seemed to turn cold with melancholy, just go home and cry myself into a numb sleep.

"Faro." I murmured after everyone besides him, Conor and I were gone. I didn't want to speak in his mind, from his expression it was loud enough in there already.

"Mmm?" He replied, looking into the distance Elvira had vanished from.

I was about to give him a hug, and opened my arms to receive him, but... he turned his back to me, and began to swim away, pausing only to give a follow-me gesture to Con and I.

"We do need to go home sis." Conor reminded me as we did our best to keep up with Faro's faster stroke.

"I know, its the middle of the night and all that."

"Might not be, Saph, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah, time difference and all that, but I was only gonna give him a hug, it wouldn't take long! …He looks like he could really use a cuddle right now is all."

Conor gave me a strange look, one that I hadn't seen on him before, but seemed to be very reminiscent of his guilty-face.


	2. A List From the Heart (Thoughts)

**Okay, chapter 2, set a year and a bit later on Sapphy's birthday. Shorter than the first, but necessary, gonna hopefully have a longer one next time - and Faro's definitely in the next one. Maybe tell me what you think of the poem, since it popped into my head and inspired most of this fic? xxx GC**

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It was an okay birthday. Not the best I'd ever had, but, I'd begun to realise 'special days' stop being so special as you grow up. I hadn't felt anything at Christmas, not a single grain of the bubbling excitement of my pre-teen years.

There was a chocolate cake, Mum made it, and it probably tasted great – if I could taste anything, but my mind had been elsewhere, as it so often is now. What am I going to do with my life? What should I do in college? Should I go to Uni? What job could I do?

I didn't know. I doubted my results were gonna be all that good, and I still hadn't chosen any college courses. Why couldn't I know what I wanted to be, like everyone else did? Well... I knew something of what I wanted, actually, I knew a lot, but couldn't do anything with it.

I wanted to stay here, in Senara, in this house, I wanted this house to be mine forever, and for Mum and Roger to have to move, not me. I wanted to keep the cove as part of my life, the cove, and Ingo, and... Faro. But I also wanted Conor, and Sadie, and Rainbow, and Granny Carne (even though she scares the piss out of me sometimes) and everything there is in Air, particularly sweets. Oh I could never learn to live without sweets, they're just too yummy.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, like I do far too often, its the reason my grades are going to be so terrible and ruin whatever life I might be able to plan. And that's what I'm doing, planning my life. I'm sat on my bed with my brand new embroidered diary and a gel pen that writes in bluey-green, making lists of my talents, and trying to deduce what to do with them.

So far, my list is rather unhelpful, comprising of: read minds, speak full Mer, swim well enough to keep up with Mer, ride dolphins, hold conversations with whales who are about to kill me, send an ancient monster to sleep and generally save the day.

All in all, not a very useful set of skills here in Air. I sighed as I looked out of my window to the sea, and the track, plants and general stuff which was in the way.

_I'm sixteen, _I think to myself,_ what should I be doing now that I'm sixteen? What do normal, human sixteen-year-old girls do? What do normal, human sixteen-year-old girls want?_

So I started trying to list those instead, heading it with 'Girls Just Wanna Have...' then writing: parties, shopping, boyfriends.

It seemed I was in trouble, cos I didn't do parties, I couldn't dance or talk to people in that way, I didn't have the money, or the fashion-sense to shop much – I only ever went if I needed something, or Rainbow dragged me – and I didn't have a boyfriend, or anyone to be one. I only knew a few boys well enough to say anything, and they were all taken, not my type (what is a type anyway?) or my brother.

And by brother, I mean broder as well, because Faro is my family just as much as Mum, or Conor, or Sadie, or the man I will not think of but who still has an unwilling place in my heart. Faro is the link to my other family, the mirror image of it, a brother and sister, a mother missing a father, but my Ingo family has differences, like Mordowrgi, the fact Mellina is Faro and Elvira's aunt, not their mum – something I repeatedly have to remind myself of – and that Elvira is almost never there, she's 'moved out' already, only more than a thousand miles to the ice of the North!

I can't decide whether I hate Mellina, or pity her. I should hate her, she lured my father away from us, to become Mer, and caused him to put me in a very bad position. But I should also pity her, because she loved my father, I've seen it, and she mourns him in Ingo still, these two years later, just as I do here. I should also pity her because unlike Mum, Mellina has no Roger, no boyfriend to help her, and she has to look after a now three-year-old boy all on her own. But, I suppose, more than anything, I am envious of her, because she had that year or two with my father, and I didn't. She had the time that was stolen from us, and it was her that Dad chose, not me. These are all reasons to hate her, but I don't, I forgave her long ago, I forgave her when I saw how Dad spoke of her, even dying, and knew he loved her, and it was not her fault.

My babbling mind ceases suddenly as I look to my aching hand, all this time it has been writing, flowing over the page with my apparently illegible handwriting. Putting the pen down, and flapping my hand about to loosen it, I stare at the page. And laugh.

I sat there for quite some time, just chuckling over the irony of it. I probably failed English, and there, in perfect sea-green, was a poem. Three stanzas long, four lines per stanza, standard ABCB rhyme. It was a simple poem, but it could've got me somewhere near a pass grade for my GCSE when my Ingo-head probably had written next to nothing when in the exam hall. It was just too ironic, I get bad grades because I watch out of windows too much, and a good grade could have just come from the exact same action!

However, when I actually took in the words of the poem, my good mood and laughter were gone, replaced by a pensive irritation. The poem was this:

_Eyes like kelp,_

_Hair like weed,_

_How I feel for you, friend,_

_Is strong indeed._

_We race through currents,_

_Then rest on the sand,_

_And all this time,_

_You've held my hand._

_Now that I'm older,_

_I'm beginning to see,_

_I look at you,_

_The way you look at me._

Oh dear. I was in deep trouble, and by deep, I meant fathoms below the water, as in _Deep_ trouble. Because it was true, I had noticed that certain someone looking at me when he thought I wasn't looking, just as I did when I thought he wasn't.

I couldn't let Conor find this, and if I knew brothers, I knew they'd read the sister's diary eventually. He'd certainly got his hands on my last one, and laughed at me for crushing on a certain male singer I refuse to name due to the mocking that then ensues – and of course, I don't fancy the guy anymore. But this was more important than that stupid singer, the person in the poem was nearby, always. And Conor didn't like him very much.

No, Conor must not know what my subconscious was doing, what it was thinking about, _who_ it was thinking about, all the time. My brother could never know about how I still spent my every waking hour in Ingo, either physically, or just in my head, but I am always there, and am never alone.

Even as I think this, my thoughts turn to him, to my best friend besides Rainbow. I lay down on the bed, hugging the diary to my chest, picturing him, realising that I captured certain things perfectly in the poem.

His eyes _are_ the colour of kelp, when the sun shines through it, a deep green with just a hint of some other colour, blue, or grey or golden-brown, I've never been sure as it changes with the light. His hair is like mine, but darker, more black-brown than red-brown, but somehow they match and blur in our deublek bracelets.

But that's where the poem stopped, there are so many things it forgot:

The tan of his skin, so deep as to be toffee, but not dark enough to actually be brown. The pearl-white of his faultlessly straight teeth which constantly irritated me, particularly when he showed it off by smirking – usually at my expense. The strength of his arms, the tight cable of tendons and ligaments, the steel of the muscles beneath, yet the softness of his skin, the smooth suede feeling of it beneath my fingers. His hands, long-fingered and capable with nails far nicer than my torn and chewed ones. Not to mention the blatantly obvious thing the poem had missed out on, the powerful tail of a seal, fused seamlessly to the waist of a human boy, yet looking natural as it did so.

Yet, none of these descriptions do him justice, oh yes they can get the picture of each part in your mind, but they do not show you the whole. Only one thing can get him across in a way that he would be happy with, only one word that will do, and that word, is Faro.

No, I must stop thinking about him, how much I miss him, how after all this time I still want to know him, yet in truth I know him as I know myself. Faro, Saldowr's scholyk and holyer, though I think you could sum up his purpose by saying disciple – you know? Like Jesus had? A person who follows you around and learns from you, then spreads your wisdom with their own.

STOP! Stupid brain, stop thinking about Faro!

Okay, what I needed to do, was think about what I was going to do with the piece of paper. I didn't really want to rip it out of my new diary, but I had to, to stop Conor finding it. I also didn't want to just rip it up, it felt wrong the idea of destroying it, something I had created, almost like murder. And I couldn't hide it, on the off-chance someone – Conor especially – might find it and know I had written it.

But what could I do with it then?!

_Sssssssaaaaaappphire... Kowethesssss_

Oh shut up Moryow, I'm trying to think here! Oh... The seas' whispering gave me an idea. A crazy idea. A possibly immoral idea, or is it unethical? I'm not sure, whichever means going against something you believe in.

I was going to throw the paper into the sea.


	3. Keeping Secrets

**Okay, this one was quite fun, cos I got to write a poem from Faro's POV, I might let you see it later, but I like to think I've done it well, on the presupposition that if he would actually compose a poem, he'd go all out about it - especially for our lovely Saph.**  
**So wish I'd invented them instead of the wonderful HD, but I didn't, so I need to stop whining and get on with the story.**  
**PS: I know my tenses jump about from present to past like... jumpy things, but it's something I suck at, please forgive me!  
PPS: While doing a little research for the next chapter, I was looking up colleges, and smack bang in the middle of a list of schools, is Conor Downs School - Lol.**  
**Note to self, must not babble during A/N's, feel free to shut me up.**

* * *

"Look Faro! That one's the shape of a seahorse!" I pointed to the cloud in question.

Faro tilted his head back to study the fluffy thing critically then grudgingly nodded "And you're the shape of a human who's for some reason excited by white collections of water in the sky."

"You're not a shape at all." I countered with a smile, "You're two shapes, seal and human, stuck together."

"I am not _stuck together_! I am Mer, and Mer are Mer, not seals and humans put together." he gestured to himself, "If I am two different creatures, find the line between, where human stops and seal starts." his eyes narrowed at me, daring me to try.

I am about to touch the place I believe is the midpoint, when Faro leaps off the rock to refresh his tail. It gives me an idea "Ha! You just proved _my_ point!"

Faro looked at me quizzically.

"It's only your tail that needs to stay moist, from the waist up you can stay out as long as you want." I explain with a proud grin, only to be soaked after Faro smashes a small tidal wave over me with the force of his tail "I never prove anyone's point but mine." he snapped as I spluttered and tried to get the water out of my nose without losing _all _of my dignity.

"Faro!" I choked out fearfully, as I coughed up more water I hadn't been prepared for and feeling like I'm about to not just vomit, but pass out afterwards.

He pulls himself up onto the rock and makes fluttery motions with his hands, unsure what to do about watching his friend drowning in Air.

…

There have not been many moments worse than that one, when I had to just sit there and watch Sapphire fight for her life due to my own stupidity. I'd only intended to get her wet to show my displeasure, and now she could possibly choke to death – and I could do nothing.

Why did Conor have to do this to me? Put me in this position? If he had simply forced me not to ever see Sapphire again, it might have been easier, less of a temptation. But here we were, she was coughing up huger amounts of water than you would expect could be inside a human, and I could do nothing, not even pound her back as I've seen them do to semi-drowned mariners. I had to just watch, and I hated it, hated the fear that almost broke me, almost let me destroy my home just to save her.

But I should have known better, my Sapphy is strong, and she saved herself.

…

The last of the water came out, and I could see several parts of my body had changed colour from lack of oxygen as I pulled in my first breath in _way_ too long. I sat there, leant forward, hands over my stomach and just breathed, fed my body with the air it needed to survive.

From the corner of my eye I could see Faro sagging with relief and letting out a long breath. He ran fingers through his longish – but nowhere near as long as mine – hair and I watched his chest rise and fall as rapidly as mine.

Wow, Faro had been scared. I'd rarely ever seen fear in him, and any other time I might've laughed, but... to know that fear had been, well, for _me_. That changed everything, because his fright had been serious, he'd been terrified he might have had to watch me die – I could see all that in his face as he watched me slowly straighten to look at him.

I took a slow breath, letting it ease it's way through my lungs and fill my skin with healthy colour "Faro, just so you know, if there is ever a next time for that – and I hope there isn't – what you do is hit me on the back, between the shoulder blades." I managed to place my palm over the area to show him "Conor taught me that, he's had basic first-aid training."

"I have not seen Conor in nearly two of your years Sapphire." Faro says carefully, watching me in concern.

This fact is new to me, it seems like just yesterday that we were all together saying goodbye to Elvira, and I still wondered what Faro and Conor had talked about. And what Elvira had been trying to say.

…

_Goodbye to Elvira... Faro and Conor talked... Elvira had been trying..._

Sapphire's thoughts are jumbled and to anyone else would be impossible to understand, but I have watched them for so long, for so many years now, that decipherment is easy. But still, what is she remembering?

"Why are you thinking about Elvira, Sapphire? You could be watching me beat my time instead." I tell her, throwing myself into the water, the splash coats her legs in liquid, but there is no danger as before.

"Stop reading my thoughts!" she squeals, throwing barriers around her mind in embarrassment, and covering her face with her hands as it slowly turns red.

"What are you doing?" I ask, longing to pull her hands away to see how her face has changed, what the colour has changed, if it might have made her any less pretty – not that I think anything can do that.

"Hiding," she answers, her voice slightly muffled by her hands. "You can't see me!" she cries cheerfully.

"I _can_ see you, my eyesight has not deteriorated in the last few moments Sapphire."

She lifts her head, her hair is still dripping as it makes a now almost black wave across her face. She blows the locks from her eyes and smiles in that radiant way she does when I'm ignorant "It's something that children think, science says that babies for some reason think that if they can't see you, you can't see them. It's why young kids like playing peebo."

"Peebo?" What a peculiar word.

"Yeah, that's what my family always called it anyway."

"How do you play it then? This... peebo?"

"It's easy, but it's only fun if you're under two years old really..."

"Ah, okay."

"You should enjoy it then."

I stare at her, astounded, as she bursts into musical laughter which puts even dolphin music to shame. "I am not two! I am older than you!"

She rubs her cheeks as she quiets herself "Don't you know anything? Girls are more mature than boys, so in your head you're probably about two."

I scowl at her, but am still curious, I want to know everything about her, even this game she played as a baby. "Tell me anyway." I say softly, wondering how this conversation had changed from the admiration of my somersaulting abilities that I had intended.

"I'll show you," she covered her eyes for a few moments, and I waited expectantly for something to happen, she then flung her hands away and yelled "Peebo!"

…

His face was absolutely priceless, hysterical. I actually fell off the rock I was guffawing so hard. I had landed in a dent of the next rock down, one that was filled with water, and continued to giggle at his incredulous expression, until a crab walked across my leg and I shrieked, thinking it was a spider.

Then it was his turn to laugh at me, and I didn't feel so good. Faro had no right to laugh at me! And I made sure he could hear the thought, to which he only laughed harder, falling back into the waves with it.

He eventually comes back out and asks me as I stand up "What were we talking about before all this hwarth, this, this... silliness?"

"Um... I can't remember, but you read my thoughts and I didn't want you to."

"You should keep your 'portcullis' up then."

"You actually keep it down to make it useful Faro, it drops down and traps invaders of a castle. And it's too exhausting to do it all the time, why can't you just not try to read my mind?"

…

"I don't try, I can hear you whether I want to or not sometimes." I cannot believe I just said that. It was true, I could almost always sense her mind, even when she was in Air and I deep in Ingo, but it was an utter lie to suggest there was ever a time I might not want to be with her, even if only in that I could sense she was alive and well.

"Oh! I remember! I was telling you about how Conor learnt the Heimlich manoeuvre."

"The what?"

"The Heimlich? It's what I was saying earlier, the method for how to stop someone choking."

"Oh... How is your brother Sapphire? Since I haven't seen him in so long." And is he likely to ever release me from his curse?

"Oh, Conor's fine." she replies, settling down onto the sand and wiggling a little until she is comfortable – how I wish I could lie there beside her and bask in the sun as she so loves to do. "Happy doing his really complicated maths and science and stuff at college, off to Uni next year." she sighs.

"Sapphire? What's wrong?"

"It's just that... I don't know what to do with my life. I need to pick college courses soon or I won't get a place at all, not that I'll be able to get one anyway, my grades are too terrible. And even if I did, what would I do there? What subjects could I possibly take?"

I watch her silently, I have heard of all the things she is saying, but they still do not mean much to me. This saddens me, for I have listened to her worry over them for quite some time. How I wish I could help her, ease the burden on her mind.

…

"I just hate how Conor knows everything about his future, what he wants to be, how to get there, where he wants to go. I just feel so useless with my barely-passing grades and no idea what I want." _Except one thing,_ I protect my thoughts, _I know one thing I want, and that's you Faro, how did I ever live without you?_

…

Her blockades are up, surrounding her mind in a red, flickery thing a bit like seaweed strands in the way it moves.

Cautiously I venture a topic she is not going to like "Sapphire?"

"Yes, Faro?" she answers miserably, she doesn't even lift her head, just raises a hand weakly to show she is listening.

"Why doesn't Conor come to Ingo with you anymore?"

…

Oh dear... How can I answer without lying, and without revealing the truth? Conor made me swear and promise not to tell anyone that he's hiding from Ingo, hiding from the pain of losing Elvira. I hated him for the few days after he answered the question for me, hated him for telling me he'd loved her, but now, just like with Dad, I accepted it.

Human men cannot resist Mer women, it is a simple fact to me now, and it seemed my family in particular were afflicted grievously with it. But then again, I think it didn't matter the genders, there was a reason behind the myths of sirens and mermaids, the Mer have a beauty and draw that is unique to the oceans' children.

I am ugly by comparison, that is one reason I hated Elvira so much. She made me jealous, and envious, and long to be Mer so I could be so enchanting too.

But no. I must not let Faro know my thoughts. I must invent some other reason, and fast. I cannot break my promise to Conor. Sometimes I love my lying ability, and now is one of those times, because it falls off my tongue effortlessly.

"Ervys." I say, "Even though the guy was, to quote good ol' Bill, 'an inhuman wretch', Conor can't deal with the fact he killed someone. Humans have very important laws about murder, and even in self-defence it's frowned upon, I don't know how much trouble you get into for that... Hell, I'd be scared too, and that's not even thinking about the trauma..."

"Who's 'Good Ol' Bill'?"

"William Shakespeare, he's an old writer."

"Oh, okay."

I lay there, stunned that he accepted such a lie, it probably had some truth to it, but the fact that he still hadn't caught on about Elvira... That was just brilliant.

"You're thinking about my sister again Sapphire. Get up and watch me instead, more fun than just lying on the floor."

So I did. He did that spinning thing where he somersaults so many times that he blurs into an infinity symbol surrounded by the churning of so many bubbles. After nearly five minutes – by my counting the seconds – he slows to a stop, rising from the water.

He smiles at me, a dizzy grin on his face "How long was that?"

"283 seconds, nearly five minutes, still not beaten Morlader's record though."

"Merde!" he shouts, slapping the water crossly as I reach the conclusion that the language was not Mer, but why then was Faro using a human language?

"Faro? There's no need to swear." I don't know if it was, but it surely had the right tone to be a curse word.

He watches me and shakes the dizziness from his eyes "Sorry, it's just that I've been working on that for _ages_. And I still can't seem to beat five minutes."

"Aww, poor Faro can't improve his party piece." I say with a half-mocking smile.

"Hmph!" Faro replies, folding his arms as he flicks his tail absently "You can't do it at all." he sticks his tongue out at me and I follow suit.

…

That is exactly when the familiar debate changes, because Sapphire, my fascinating Sapphire, instead of admitting the fact, challenges me.

"Maybe not, but I could use ribbons to achieve something similar if I wanted, but I don't because it's dangerous." she gives me one of those I-can-do-something-you-can't smiles and pulls off her ridiculous 'flip-flops'. "I bet you can't pick things up with your tail Faro."

What? "Of course not, we Mer have hands for that sort of thing."

"So do humans," she wriggles her fingers "but sometimes your hands are not an option." her smile broadens so gorgeously I— no, I will not continue that thought. "In those cases, we can use our feet." she stretches out her left leg and scrapes her toes over a collection of small pebbles, rolling one around beneath her foot.

I stare at her, fascinated as she picks the small stone up and throws it toward me – all with her toes. I catch the pebble and study it, trying to spot how she did that with a human's mostly-considered-useless lower appendages.

I believe that is when I finally admitted to myself that being human would not be the end of the world, because there was nothing _cleft _about them as I had always been taught. They are not mutilated Mer, they are human, and one of them is Sapphire.

The girl I must never, ever touch or my cousin will be pulled apart by scientists and my entire world destroyed.

…

I laughed, I couldn't resist from the look on his face as I slipped my feet back into the sandals. "It's not that miraculous Faro! …Faro?" I ask when he doesn't answer me. My friend has turned away slightly, and is watching the mouth of the cove just as he watched me. "Faro? Oh please don't have to leave yet!" I cry as I realise why he is looking out to the sea, to Ingo.

He regards me over his shoulder with a faint smile. _Don't panic Kowethes Moryow, I shall return in but a moment. _And before I could even demand it of him, he added: _I promise._

People, Mer people, had been calling me that for some time now, it seemed Seiliko and the other dolphins had been spreading the news of my recognition pattern. For that's what it was: Kowethes Moryow, friend of the seas, friend of Ingo.

And he was gone, disappeared with the speed I envied him for, envied the Mer in general for. _But,_ I had to remind myself, _if you had that speed, you wouldn't ever see Sadie again, or Mum, or Roger, or Rainbow, or even Granny Carne. You would miss everything human, and it would tear at you even more because you could never come back, be grateful you can move between both worlds, be grateful for human adaptability._

My science teacher had told me that humans are the most adaptable animals on the planet, save for maybe rats. Though I really didn't like the comparison to being a rat, it stung about as much as when Faro first called me cleft.

_Sapphire? _Faro spoke into my mind, the gesture was the mental equivalent of knocking on a door, asking for permission to enter.

I shake myself, looking at him and answering "Yes, Faro?"

"This... litter," I could hear clearly that he wanted to use a different, less polite word to describe the thing he held. "It has words on it."

"Yeah, so?" I asked, nestling myself onto what I privately thought of as Saphro rock, the one we always sat on together, not that I would ever, ever let anyone know I called it that.

"Can you read it to me?" he enquired, much to my surprise, why did he care about a piece of rubbish enough to want to know what it said?

"If it's in English, I suppose so."

After dragging himself up the stone, and giving me a truly lip-licking-worthy view of his muscles in action, he handed the soggy paper to me.

Oh. Bugger.

It still smelt faintly of honey, and still had visible blemishes from the fact it is recycled, a predictable idea of a gift from Granny Carne. But, almost annoyingly, the words were still there, plain as day, flawless in bluey-green, as if the sea had tried to preserve something I could not allow anyone to know.

…

The look she gave the despicable defilement was unusual, not the hatred and fury I felt, and it was nothing I could exactly name. I touched her thoughts to try and understand her reaction better, only to find nothing, she was not protecting her mind, because there was nothing happening, she had stopped thinking.

The idea that someone would be capable of going even a moment without thought is strange, but I realised that shock could probably do such a thing.

"Sapphire?" I finally spoke, hoping to start her up again, get some movement inside her head, because her silent staring was more than a little disconcerting.

"Um... yeah, I can read it." her voice sounded strange, as if from far away.

Why did Conor have to do this to me? I _needed_ to touch her now, I could feel my hand moving forward to touch her face, wake her from whatever spell she was under.

NO! I forced my arm down, away from her, she was in no danger, just deeply surprised. I could not risk the existence of my world and the safety of my family just to bring her back from a daze over whatever it was the reprehensible rubbish said.

"Well?"

"It's, it's a poem."

"A poem..." that is a very strange thing to find, normally it is wrappers for the human 'sweets' my favourite girl seemed to love so much, or those small plastic see-through things with tiny spears on the ends which Sapphire called 'syringes'.

"Yes, it's a bit like a song."

"I know what a poem is Sapphire." In my worst moments of missing Elvira, I had composed many about her. Not to mention the one I had refused to let into my mind lest she catch it, the poem about Sapphire.

_Hair like breccicated jasper,_

_And eyes into which I fall,_

_I cannot change my feelings,_

_My Sapphire is my all._

NO! I will not remember it. Sapphire cannot know how much I like her, how I even let the other l-word enter my mind when I think of her.

"Do you really want me to read it Faro? It feels kinda wrong... Like invading their privacy." she doesn't look happy, but at least she's thinking again, and she sees me when she turns her eyes my way.

"But, why then, if they didn't want anyone to read it, did they throw it into the ocean where it could wash up anywhere?"

…

He had a point, it had been rather stupid of me, I should've just eaten it.

"Okay, okay. Um, its kinda smudged," I say, hoping he cannot use his mind-reading to know that I'm telling hugamongous lies, and completely changing the contents. "But, this is what I think it says:

Eyes that help,

Hair like wood,

How I feel for this fiend,

Is strong indeed.

We raced through cars,

Then rest on the sand,

And all this time,

He's burned my hand.

Now that I'm older,

I finally see,

I don't look at him,

The way he looks at me."

I sincerely hoped the changes were enough to make up for the guilty-face I must have, and to cover up that I'd actually written it about him.

"What in all of Ingo was that about?" Faro asked me, quite clearly bemused – oh thank goodness. "And it still does not explain why they felt the need to poison Ingo with human waste."

I felt the need to defend my action "Maybe the poet had strong feelings for whoever the poem is about, and couldn't bear to destroy it, but didn't want to keep it anymore?"

"Maybe Sapphire, but they did not need to contribute to the growing contamination of Ingo."

"I know Faro..." I replied miserably. What should I do with the thing now? Moryow refused to blur my feelings for Faro, even if they were written with Norvys-scented paper, it was almost an omen, and I didn't like it.


	4. Unadventurous Adventures

**Um, so, chapter 4, this had turned out totally different from the plot, but I think it works. **

**Anyway, quick question, when did Faro's eyes change from brown in book 1, to green? Cos everyone describes him as having green eyes, and that's certainly how I picture him. I only realised this might be wrong when checking I'd got the chorus of _O Peggy Gordon_ right, and noticed his eyes are written as brown like Conor's. So, does anyone know when (and why) that changed to green?**

**Any answers appreciated, this sort of thing fascinates me.**

**xxx GC**

* * *

"Saaaaaaaaaaph." Conor comments on the edge of my hearing, even though he's sitting opposite me at lunch. "Get your head out of the clouds and back down here so you can listen to me!"

"What is it Con?" I answer tiredly, although I am pretty sure I already know what he will say.

"We need to talk about your college placement."

"I don't wanna talk about it." I reply immediately.

"It still needs to happen, whether you wannit to or not." he informs me as I twirl the spaghetti on my fork without any intention of eating it.

"That it does," Roger comments from behind his newspaper, and Mum nods whilst washing up a plate.

"Have you any idea what courses you might like to take yet Sapphy?" Mum asks.

"No Mum."

"Well, maybe we can help you think of some." Conor finishes his food as he says it.

"Like?" I reply automatically, wishing college could just go away, and not be a problem. Wishing all of the necessaries in Air would just go away: school, college, work, commitments in general.

"Well, you're very artistic when you're in the right mood Sapphire, perhaps an art course of some medium or other?"

I stare at Roger as he studies me over the top of the _Cornishman._ "What's a medium?"

"A type of art, many things are considered arts Sapphire. Music, painting, drawing, photography, drama, cooking, and probably a lot more."

I may have noticed Mum wince at the word 'photography', she probably doesn't want me to follow in Dad's occupational footsteps. To be honest, nor do I, it would hurt too much to spend my time doing all of that without Dad.

Con must've noticed my and Mum's joint grimace at the idea of photography, so leaps on another plan "What about marine biology or something to do with the sea?"

My chest swells with the idea of spending my life working beside Faro to clear up the sea – emphasis on the beside Faro part though.

Mum shook her head "You need a high science grade for that Conor, and though you could do that if you'd wanted, I don't think Sapphy's results will be good enough."

I don't like the insult to my intelligence, but I know it's true, although I love the sea and nearly everything in it – with particular focus on one individual – I can't tell a spiracle from a ventricle, and aren't even sure what they are, other than science words.

"I could sail round the world five times like that lady in the news a while ago." I say, grinning at Conor "It can't be that hard, I bet I could swim it and break all the records."

"Sapphire! Don't say such things! You could never swim that long, no-one could, and I could never let my baby even be so stupid as to try."

I just look steadily at Conor with a growing smile, which he does not return, his face betrays who he is thinking of, and the pain he feels.

"Whatever you say Mum." I answer her.

"You should still think about those other arts Sapphy, if you paid attention long enough to set brush to canvas, I can picture you an artist." Roger comments, turning a page of the paper.

I still feel sick over having eaten that poem, it can't have been good for me, even before it spent a day or two in the sea. That reminds me, I need to have words with Faro about this weekend.

The others are continuing to suggest courses I could take, I'm not really listening, but I know it's happening. In truth I am stealthily slipping Sadie my meatballs, hoping to be able to get down more pasta before I give up – or Mum would start to whine that I am getting thin. I _am_ getting thin, or at least trying to, it is in an attempt to become beautiful, not for vain purposes, but because I want to even be on Faro's radar in comparison to all the ravishing Mer girls that he must know.

I need to prepare my speech for Faro, but what can I tell him? How can I demand such a thing? But, maybe more importantly, how can I not? And why shouldn't I be allowed to ask it of him?

I force myself to eat three more scoops of spaghetti as Mum watches me like when I was six and she was telling me to eat my broccoli. I had never like eating broccoli, it felt wrong to eat a baby tree.

"Fine," Mum says reluctantly as I push my plate towards a slowly grinning Conor "Go on Con, have at it. Really Sapphy, you must eat more or you'll fade away like a ghost."

"I'm just not hungry Mum." I lie, in fact I feel like having three more bowls, but you know what they say about the strength of love.

I had eaten recycled paper covered in salt-water and who knew what germs, and hardly eaten at any other time – but Faro is worth it. I just hope I can get him to notice me as anything other than a friend, _before_ I waste away from starvation.

But still, crush or no crush, we need to have a talk.

"Saph." Conor mumbles through a mouthful of spag-bol "I can read your mind, and I'm telling you not to think about it at all, you need to focus on college at the moment."

Holy crap. I hadn't even thought that Conor might know without needing to see the poem. But no, he doesn't know, he _can't_, because he can't read my mind, he's reading my face, seeing Ingo on it. Yet, my brother is a genius, he's telling me to stop my away-in-Ingo thoughts, whilst making the adults think he means something normal.

Mum dries her hands and leans against the countertop "Yes, that is something we've been meaning to talk to you about Sapphy."

Shit, please, please, please don't say what I think you're about to say.

Roger looks up and takes her hand "Your mother and I have agreed on this Sapphire, we believe you should be focussing on what you want to do at college, and which one, so... no going down to the cove until you have decided."

Con stood up "And I've agreed to enforce this while their gone on the weekend, so no wriggling around it. You're stuck on dry land with the rest of us."

I stare at them all stupidly, trying to understand the words. Oh yes, I know what they all mean, but put together? Nope, no sense, speaking gibberish, can't be true. But the truth of their words slowly filters in as I stroke Sadie's head frantically, fiddling with her funny ear as I try desperately to make my understanding of their words change, alter to fit my purpose. But no matter how I reform the words, they make the same terrible punishment, the same cruel sentence.

I cannot go to Ingo. I cannot see Faro. I am trapped.

And I, Sapphire Trewhellla, have a distinct reaction to being trapped. I fight back. "You can't do that!" I shout, launching myself into a stand, clenching my fists by my sides as I try to hold back my rage to stop myself clocking Conor for going along with it.

"I think you'll find we can." Mum says, glaring at me and noticeably moving her eyes to the fallen chair behind me, in a clear pick-it-up command. "You need to learn to be responsible, Sapphire. You need to learn the consequences of your actions. Look where it's got you, staring at the sea all day: you've no college placement, no idea what you want to do with your life, and a very low prediction for your results. Can't you _understand_ that that is a bad thing Sapphy?" Mum's voice softens "Can't you see that you'll get nowhere with your life if you just sit there and watch it go by without making a place for yourself. Can't you see that nowadays you can't just be lazy, you need to get educated and get a job and get money enough to live."

I crouch to right the chair, then, with my head bowed so I can't see their faces "I know Mum, I know all this, everyone has told me over and over, thinking it hasn't sunk in, but it has." I lift my gaze to them all "It traps me every moment, whispering over and over 'What are you gonna do with your life Sapphire? What ya gonna do?' But I can't do _anything_! I'm useless at all the school subjects, and I can't talk to people, and I'm not even pretty. I _know_ I have no assets, nothing I can use to help me, and I _know_ you'll all do anything to help. But there's nothing any of us can do! I'm trapped in this endless cycle of my own hopelessness and—" I get ready to bolt, as I know I will have no choice after my last sentence "And the sea is my only escape, you've just caged me in with my own screaming."

I flee upstairs, grab my diary and clamber up Conor's ladder, pulling it up into the loft and bolting the hatch closed – no-one can get in now. I sit on Con's bed, shaking with not rage, but despair, as it all comes crashing down on my mind.

I have no GCSE's, or at least, do not have any worthwhile ones. I am unlikely to get a college placement, and even if I do, I probably won't get the one I want. But that is only a small part of the problem, I have _no idea_ what I _want_ to do. All I know about what I want is laid out for all to see in the diary: Ingo, Senara, Saldowr, Granny Carne, so many opposites and contradictions I should have been torn apart already. Yet, I haven't been, Conor holds me safe from surrendering to Ingo and destroying my family and friends' lives with my 'death'. But Conor cannot stop me from going to Ingo, he never could, and my desire for it has grown stronger along with my feelings for Faro.

All I want...

It just isn't fair! The questions and lack of answers, the demands and lack of fulfilled requirements, my doomed future crowds me in and laughs, laughs as I scream in pure anguish.

_I wish I was away in Ingo,_

_Far across the briny sea,_

_Sailing over deepest waters,_

_Where love nor care never trouble me..._

The music of Dad's voice singing randomly in my head tells me what I will do, and I am moving before I even think of it. I pick up my pen and my hand moves without my knowledge of what it is writing, until I look down and see the song's lyrics on the paper.

Ah, now I am aware of the plan which had been brewing. I rip the page out – again feeling bad about having to ruin the gift – and leave it on Conor's bed. I open the hatch and push the ladder back into place, before quickly throwing my diary onto my own bed.

Nobody has come to make peace with me yet, and I can vaguely hear them discussing my outburst downstairs, but I do not care. I am not going to obey, I am leaving. Not forever, probably not even for long, but I am leaving, just to prove my point.

Scrabbling back up the ladder into the attic, I head towards the window facing the coast. It is small, too small for a fully grown adult to fit, but I am thin, and can slip through the gap like water onto the roof.

Now, a drop from the roof of a house is a scary prospect, and not something I would ever do in a rational mind. Even though my thoughts are not at their most reasonable right now, due to fear and anger, I can still look down and think to myself: _Nope, not gonna happen._

However, I am not stupid, and there is a tree by the front door. Making my way over to it is a little frightening, but the tiles of the roof have been there since before I was born, and will probably remain long after I am gone – they do not let me down, and I reach the tree in seconds. The branch I can reach is thick and durable, it holds my weight easily, and I shimmy down the trunk well enough to show Granny Carne is right, I have Earth magic in me somewhere.

From the ground, and somehow unnoticed through the windows, it is easy to make my way toward the cove. The July air is warm, but not as hugely hot as last year, and a feeling of near-relaxation comes over me. It seems silly, I have just run away, defied my mother, blatantly shoved a painful memory at my brother, probably deeply disappointed Roger, and worried Sadie, yet I feel wonderful for having done so.

Does that make me a bad person?

…

Conor left Mum and Roger to settle Saph's outburst between themselves. He himself was furious for not realising it sooner, Ingo was distracting Saph from getting on with her life, even if she wasn't doing anything important there, it meant she wasn't deciding what courses to take, what jobs she might want to do.

And Conor could not allow it to continue, so when he found her not in her room, and not in his, and then found a note on his bed... well, his reaction was not to smile and leave it alone.

…

For some time now, I have been preparing this rant for Faro, but now that I am about to deliver it, I'm more than a little nervous. I don't want him to hate me for thinking the way I do. I just want to do something big and exciting like we used to, not the same old: visit Saldowr, visit Mordowrgi, lie in the sun water. It's now just so... familiar, and the tiniest bit boring.

"SAPH!" Conor bellows from behind me, interrupting my train of thought.

"What?!" I snap, turning back, I had just been about to push through the bushes that sat before the cliff down to our cove.

"Where are you going?" he demands to know.

"You know where I'm going Con."

"I am not going to cover for you Saph."

"Yes you will."

"Okay then, since you are so certain of that, let's try something new, I'm not gonna let you go, it's too dangerous."

Oh if only he knew that it wasn't, and that was – to me at least – a problem. "Well, I'm a dangerous girl." is my only reply before turning my back to him and pushing through the branches and leaves separating me from the wild waters of Moryow, of Ingo.

"SAPH!" Conor yells again, but does not follow me.

…

_Right then,_ Conor thinks, Saph had given him no choice, he would have to lie, have to pretend he thinks they should give her this one more time before leaving the oceans behind. He would have to make it seem that she was all right, and completely safe, just sitting, watching the waves.

He had to make Saph seem in no danger, to a woman whose greatest fear was water. It would be a challenge, but Conor knew he could do it, if he could perform simultaneous quadratic equations, then he could do this convincingly enough to get Mum and Roger gone for the weekend.

Because, if he did, he could – deep breath – go back to Ingo, and bring Sapphire home, before the _fish_ stole her away like the female one had nearly done to him.

_No, _he thought, _don't think of her, think of Rainbow. Think how beautiful Rainbow is, think about your date with her next Tuesday. Don't think about the witch who with one word would have made you sell your soul and destroy everyone you love, just to be with her._

But no matter what he did, no matter how many times he kissed Rainbow and relished in it. No matter how much he knew he loved the completely Earth-bound girl with the most fitting name in the world – he could not get her, Elvira, out of his head.

…

Sapphire. Sapphire needs me. I look regretfully at the empty bag hanging by my side, the one I am supposed to be filling with the list of items Saldowr wants, but cannot help myself turn tail towards her mental signature, her bright flare, her homing signal that pulls at my heart if ever she wants me.

If it were anyone else I would've felt trapped by being at their beck and call – what did 'beck' even mean in that context? Short for beckon maybe? – but with her, I feel it as as much of an honour as when Saldower first chose me as his scolhyk. I feel sheer pride every time she requires anything of me, and, though it hurts to acknowledge the fact, I had just chosen her over Saldowr.

…

"FARO!" I call, both aloud, with hands cupped around my mouth, and inside my mind, searching for the familiar feel of his own. A flicker of an answer brushes against my head, weakened by distance, but still clear.

_I am coming Sapphire_. Is Faro's quiet reply.

So I wait, sat on the golden sand which parts comfortably beneath me, letting me sink into its warmth. Some little gritty grains find their way into my knickers, it's a nuisance, but I can ignore it by now, and just relax in the sun. Or, at least, I would be able to relax, if not for the niggling worry that Conor is going to in some way hurt Ingo for what Elvira did to him.

My brother could not do such a thing, he is a nice person, but recently, I have begun to wonder... Did Ingo change my brother?

…

Conor sits on the sofa, arm across his eyes as he ponders what to do. He has already pleaded Saph's case to Mum in such a way that the adults have now left the house until very early Monday morning, but he cannot help but wonder what more needs to be done. He knows he cannot simply lie back and let the fish take his sister, it would destroy their already fractured family, but more importantly, he knows that if Saph was gone, then nothing would hold him back.

Conor knows that without Saph's protection, he would leave everything to find Elvira.

No. He must do something. He mustn't let Saph go swimming off with her pet mutant, he mustn't let her be drowned by the creature's charm as he himself was by Elvira's. He must protect his sister, and by extension himself.

He must decimate Ingo, the whole Mer population must be eradicated, or he will never move on, never escape Elvira's icy clutches. But he cannot do it again, he cannot bear to kill again, it nearly pulled him apart to steal the life of Ervys even if he had been a complete bastard, so he could not take the lives of innocent babes.

But scientists could. In the name of science, such people would tear the Mer world apart in search of answers.

It was decided.

…

"Faro!" Sapphire exclaims happily, jumping forwards into the waves to meet me. Her arms are opened wide, and alarm pounds through me, forcing me back. I cannot allow her to touch me, no matter how much I want her to. She seems curious about the avoidance, but says nothing, instead wading further into the water, exhaling and plunging in.

She is in Ingo now, and, just as for me, there is no pain now, no noticeable change in our chests if we move from one world to another. It seems almost sad, the loss of transition, the complaint of Ingo demanding I stay or feel the consequences, yet I am happy, because it no longer hurts my Sapphire to be with me.

I think back to when I first brought her here, clinging painfully tight to my wrist. She was frightened, and I hadn't understood how anyone could fear Ingo until then, her mind had unknowingly shown me the possibility of drowning and the terror of how it would feel. She had been pretty then, but has since bloomed into a mesmerising young woman with hair that surrounds her like sunbeams do the sun. _No, _I tell myself, _stop thinking about what you want to do with her hair. Start thinking about—_

"Faro. _Hello_? Anyone in there?" Sapphire is waving in my face, clicking her fingers expectantly.

I shake my head, scolding myself, I am supposed to be working for Saldowr, not daydreaming about Sapphire's lovely locks.

"No? You're not in there?" she asks with a smile "Then how did you answer?"

I roll my eyes at her, just as she taught me to, and she laughs, a giggle of sweetest joy that pulls at the deepest 'cells' of my body. Oh yes, she's told me all about cells, not that they make any more sense to her than they do to me.

"Well, if Faro does come back, be sure to tell him something from me."

"And what is that, Sapphire?" I cannot stop saying her name, it automatically adds its beautiful self to the end of almost every sentence I address to her.

"That I've got nearly three days free. I can stay here till Monday morning."

I smile, it is good news, and it would normally thrill me to the core, but now... it just seems, a torment, a further punishment for my adoring her as I do, lo—

"Faro! Didn't you hear me?" she sounds hurt now, she had just revealed what to her is wonderful news, and I am silent.

_I must seem pleased, _I realise, _I should be exalted by the idea of so much time with her, without her constantly anxious to get home. The world has offered me three days, and here I am, unable to stand it, because it is not forever. We are neither of us free._

"Faro? Oh, please Faro, say something." she is concerned now, and her eyes are too-shiny in the way that they become just before she cries.

"Sorry, I was thinking." I tell her numbly, feeling lost. How can I deny her the desire in her eyes, the longing for what her Mer blood so adamantly demands, without letting her come to danger which I cannot save her from?

…

"What are you thinking about so much that it makes you unable to hear me?" I ask, angry at being slighted.

"I need to get back to Saldowr, I'm busy." he taps the seaweed bag at his hip "I was collecting some stuff he wanted." there is a small Faro-smile at the word 'stuff', he has thought it funny ever since realising just how much I use it.

I raise an eyebrow – something I learnt from Faro – at the emptiness of the bag "Looks like you were paying your task as much attention as you are me. It's empty Far."

"I've told you not to call me that!" he snaps, breaking from whatever stupor he'd been in.

"It had the desired effect," I shrug, wincing "and don't yell at me."

"I wasn't yelling." Faro points out, with an odd expression on his face.

"What?" I wonder aloud "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Your family have been shouting at you a lot in the past few days..." he murmurs, reaching out to... stroke my hair maybe? But he stops, and lowers his hand to the bag "They shouldn't, it is not your fault."

"Huh? Faro... I don't understand."

He smiles weakly, "My destiny was decided for me when Saldowr designated me his scolhyk. Yours eludes you, and that is most certainly not your fault, they should not blame you."

I appreciate the sentiment, and my heart swells with it, the kindness in his words. But I cannot help noticing how he said 'my destiny was decided for me'. If Faro had had the choice, would he have wanted to be the next Saldowr? I am beginning to believe not, as recently he has seemed frustrated by Saldowr's tasks, not honoured by them. Faro's pride in his career is diminishing, but surely it once meant everything to him that he was Saldowr's apprentice... so why did that feeling leave?

My thoughts are too confusing, so I latch onto Faro's words, they are real, they are solid, I can focus on them. "My destiny eludes me? What does that mean?"

"What does it sound like it means?" Faro replies as he dives down to the seabed, retrieves a handful of the sand, and pushes it into the bag.

"Yes, but surely..." I am not sure where I was going with that sentence "Oh Faro, I don't know what to do." I mumble, trying to cap the fear as it raises its ugly black head again.

Faro swims back to me in two flicks of his tail, twisting elegantly with the movement. He studies me silently "What do you want to do?" he asks softly.

I could not have hoped for a better opening to my speech. "Can— Faro, can we please go current surfing?" I answer tentatively.

Faro's eyes widen in alarm, and nervousness radiates from out mental connection, he is keeping something from me, something big that threatens to escape. So, instead of being a mature adult and telling me what's wrong, he leaps on the easy escape route – typical male. "But, but Sapphire, I have to get the things for Saldowr."

Yet, he cannot escape me, I am not stupid. "We can do that first then." I smile brightly, ecstatic that I have outmanoeuvred him "I have all weekend, I am not short on time." I tap the waterproof digital watch on my wrist, it was a gift from Rainbow – who I am almost certain knows something about Ingo by now, considering her ability to ignore my disappearances and irregularity with time "I've set its alarm to go off at midnight Sunday, just in case Ingo-time decides to play up." my grin grows even bigger, threatening to rip my cheeks "You're stuck Faro, no exeunt recorded in this script for some time." the play analogy was a bit unusual, but I ignored it such was my pride at beating Faro.

"Yes, yes, but after I finish my task from Saldowr."

"Immediately after Faro!" I cannot keep the excitement, or the thrilling determinedness from my voice.

"Yes, all right, immediately after." he replies, defeated. "But first, we need to collect some sugar kelp."

…

_Why did I give in so easily? _I wonder. _Perhaps because I remember the light in her eyes the first time she entered a current? Perhaps because I too tire of the dull activities of simply minding Mordowrgi, or talking with Saldowr about nothing in particular? Perhaps I just wish to please her?_

But none of these are in themselves true, they may have contributed, yet are not the reason. The reason is I am tired of this, I need an excuse, a reason, an _explanation_ to give along with my apology. I need a way to give in, without giving up, I need an extreme situation which I might be forgiven destroying the Mer for.

I need my Sapphire to endanger her own life, so that I might save it.


	5. Defiance

**Wrote a lot of this chapter while watching reruns of _Russell Howard's Good News_, or reading loads of fanfics and doing research for stuff. So if the fine detail's bad by comparison, that's the reason why, a combination of laughing too much, and no sleep will do that to you I guess.**

**'Leel' and 'Nell' are real Mer/Cornish words, and as far as I could see, they did translate the way I said, but if I'm wrong I'm sorry.**

**PS: I would just like to add a big THANK YOU SO MUCH, to my first follower 'Shamira The Guardian', and first (guest) reviewer 'Ingo lover', and any who've even remotely looked at any of my work: LOVE FOREVER!**

**xxx GC**

* * *

"Why on Earth does Saldowr need old limpet shells?" Sapphire grumbles to herself, digging her nails underneath a shell and prying it free with a whisper I choose to ignore as it involves what she intends to do to Saldowr.

"Why in Ingo, Sapphire." I correct her without thinking, "You're not on Earth anymore."

She rolls her eyes at me, shaking her hand and continuing to mutter in annoyance "I've been working on growing my nails, and this is what I get! Three, I've broken doing this, three!"

"Don't whine Sapphire." I answer tiredly "Let's just get it done."

"Faro..." she murmurs, looking at me through the vast cascades of her hair "Are you all right? You've been really quiet recently."

_Am _I all right? I briefly wonder it too, simply because she suggested it. I should hate that she has such power over me, but with Sapphire, it is a pleasure to be subservient, to obey her, as once it was an honour to do the same for Saldowr. Now my master just irks me and calls me disobedient, yet... there is always a knowing glint in his eyes whenever he says that, perhaps he realises why?

What am I _thinking_? Of _course_ Saldowr knows why! He has known of what Conor did to me since the day after the event, because I shared the memory with him then. However, I cannot help but think Saldowr has known for far longer, perhaps he knew before I was born, for his wisdom and knowledge go far beyond human or Mer understandings of time. Why then did Saldowr choose me if he knew of my weakness, my impurity, not just by blood, but also by choice – or not, depending on whether you believe it's a choice to fall in lo—

"Faro?" Sapphire looks up from examining the damage to her fingernails "I said, are you—"

"I heard you Saph." is what my stupid, idiotic mouth answers. Horror floods me as I remember that only one person is allowed to call her that, and it is most certainly not me. I wince at the abrupt knowing that all of my care, all of my avoidance and restraint has been for nothing. All of my attempts to hold my longing in check, all of my long nights awake, imagining her, all of my heartache will be wasted. She is going to hit me, and it will all be over. Everything, the Mer, Ingo, and any chance of a future with her.

"Oh, well, um, are you?"

"Am I what?" I answer in confusion, completely lost as all of the fear and tormenting guilt start to fizzle away.

She rolls those beautifully brown eyes which always seem like the sun despite the extreme literal contrasts, but are comparable nonetheless. Her eyes shine when she is happy, and glisten when she is sad, they are warm and kind and loving, just as the sun is personified. "Are. You. All. Right?" she intones, muffling the giggles that follow.

"I'm fine Sapphire," Why can I not seem to stop saying her name? "Just thinking."

She looks at me, serious now "You've been doing a lot of 'just thinking' in the past few weeks since school ended. What's so horribly wrong that you spend all your time with your head somewhere else?"

…

Okay, I admit, that was unfair, _I_ am the one who had my head either in the sea if I was on land, or on Earth if I was in Ingo. But the point still stands! I have a _reason_ to be thinking of my other life, Faro has no such division to worry about – so what has him so thoughtful all of a sudden?

"It is nothing Sapphire, let us just get on the with the task at hand."

I groan, I actually, honest to God, let out a very obvious groan of frustration "Faro!" I draw the word out to show my irritation "You can tell me!" What can I do to prove it to him? How can I show that his happiness is at the top of my List of Priorities? Well, it was level with: Figure Out What The F*** To Do With Your Life Sapphire Trewhella! "We've faced everything together Faro..." I murmur dejectedly "Tidal waves, ancient monsters, bura-hara..." with a shudder, I add "And lots of sharks. All this time you've trusted me, and I've trusted you." I mustn't keep looking into those green eyes, I am beginning to be sucked in by their magnetism – I cannot turn away "What could be so awful that you can't tell me, even now?"

…

For a moment I even consider telling her. _But no, _I tell myself, _I cannot. It would destroy her to know of the deep changes in Conor, whom she loves so strongly. I cannot do that to someone I lo—_

No. Just no. It is time to end all this ridiculousness, this insanity. I must find some way to answer without answering – change the subject subtly enough to avoid her shrewdness.

I smile. I have been evading her intellect for long enough, the answer comes to me without much thought "Really, Sapphire, you should have 'got over' that by now."

"Got over what?" she demands, hair swirling around her body as if it to attack me, her very skin shakes with fury. I have never seen another creature do such a thing, it should have fascinated me, but instead it makes me sad, my Sapphire hates me – I die a little at the realisation that that is even possible "You not telling me anything?! You no longer trusting me?! You going back to secretive, 'I'm Mer so I don't have to be nice'?! No! I am not going to get over it!"

…

I am screaming at him. I never thought I would yell at Faro again with such ferocity. Yet, the thing that is truly terrible is that, I am not angry in the normal sense – I am sad, grieving even. "I want _my_ Faro back! The one who's my friend, my _best _friend..." I finish, breaking off on a pitiful little sob as infuriation and melancholy battle over command of my emotions.

"I _am_ your friend Sapphire." he replies, sounding somewhat unsure of what is happening. Well at least I have that to be grateful for, I never thought I could shake one of the Mer's certainty! "And I did not mean any of that." he shakes his head, still appearing more than a little lost "I was trying to refer to your weird overdone fear of sharks."

I had been preparing a new rant for him, one that would have involved an insult to his parentage at his claiming to still be the Faro I, well, fell for – but he has just derailed me, had I simply misunderstood his comment, could my fury be at something so mundane as a misinterpretation?

"You were saying all the things we have beaten together, and I was only remarking on the fact that sharks were still the thing you fear most after all this time." he sounds... defensive, and his shoulders are hunched, as if he is expecting me to in some way injure him – not that I am likely to be capable of such a thing, his tail could probably break several of my bones if he tried to swat me with it, and he is in general far stronger than me.

Oops. Looks like I'd made a teeny, tiny little error in what I'd thought he'd meant. Um...

_Sorry Faro..._ I say in his mind, hoping to convey all the apologies and regret and sorrow I need him to know, in the only way I knew how.

He smiles faintly, a weak butterfly in comparison to his more regular, rakish grin. _I'm sorry too, I'll try and stop thinking._ At his mental communication, his smile grows into the more familiar smirk of sheer confidence and not-unfounded self-pride.

"That's a step too far, there are enough brainless brawn-heads in the world as it is."

"Sapphire?"

"What does brawn-head mean?" I asked, before he could ask it of me.

"No, I can figure that out. You said something earlier that doesn't translate even remotely." he then attempted to say bura-hara, but pronounced it "Boorah hahrar?"

"Bura-hara?"

"Yes, that, but what does it _mean_?"

"Well, um, don't get angry Faro."

He actually blinks at me, three times in quick succession "Why would I be angry?"

"Because I looked it up after learning why Ervys hated us."

"So?"

Okay, deep breath – well, not breath, but you get the idea "It's the discrimination of people due to their blood."

Faro's face collapsed with anguish. His hands became fists, grasping clawed things like an animal's, as if he badly wanted to pull something apart. He actually blanches, turning as white as the clouds we had watched so innocently a day – or was it two...? – beforehand.

Compassion consumes me, I need to bring him back to me, make this better. The empty, haunted expression, not just of his face, but of his whole body, is horrible, it tears at me, demanding I do something, chase it away with love and kindness and tolerance—_embracing_ of the fact he is of mixed blood.

Because I do, I do embrace that fact, I love it almost as much as I do him. Why? Because it means there is a slight chance for us after all. I cannot bear to leave so much behind, my family, my friends, Sadie. But Faro has far less, he has no family, only his duty to Saldowr, and that has been fading for a while now – Faro has only me, I am almost certain of it in my more lovelorn moments. And, and, and, the best part for him is that even if he did become human for me, he could still go back, go to Ingo whenever he desired, which for me the reverse would not be true, I could never return home.

No. I must cease my mental rambling. I must help Faro.

…

No! I recoil miserably as she reaches out to touch my shoulder, she looks stung at my action, but I can say nothing to change that, I am speechless with shame.

_How? _I wonder. _How can she be so understanding, when no other being is? How can she be so open to loving anything? How can she even __**allow**__ my presence near her radiating pureness? How can anything be so loving as to embrace even a mutant such as me?_

A small part of my mind reminds me that she too is of mixed blood, exactly divided. Sapphire is the perfect combination. Mer, but also human. Kowethes Moryow, as well as Myrgh Novys – a child of Norvys, the Earth.

Whereas a cold voice mocks the opposite, for Saldowr has told me that I am – by some cruel twist of fate – the same, split into two hideous halves. I am not anything. I am not Mer, or human. I am a monster. I am some nameless, disgusting _thing_ that does not deserve to be in her perfect presence.

…

"Faro!" I shout in alarm as his eyes glaze over with – get this – tears. "Um... Faro?" I repeat, suddenly uncertain.

_What am I supposed to do? How do you react when your friend of another **species** bursts into tears when as far as you know that species cannot cry? What the hell are you meant to do about it?!_

_Seriously, need an answer God, or whoever is in charge up there… _

…Since it becomes quickly apparent that I'm not going to get one, I have to think of something to do. The only thing that comes to mind is exactly what every normal person wants to do when someone is crying, give them a hug. Yet, somehow, from his earlier reaction, I doubt he'll let me, so wha—

Oh my God, crying _really_ doesn't work underwater.

…

What is happening to me? My eyes hurt. My whole face feels strange, like I am grimacing, but it's not quite the same. I even feel cold, as I have done on occasion in the Air when visiting Sapphire in 'Winter', but only my eyes feel the stabs of ice. To quote Sapphire – what the _hell_ is going on?

Speaking of Sapphire, she currently has a truly delightful expression on her face. Her cheeks are all bunched up and red as the rose she once showed me, her lips are pulled into a enormous grin – and she pours into waves of brilliant, musical laughter, doubling over with her giggles.

"Sapphire?" I ask, coughing as I find that my voice doesn't want to work, then trying again, more firmly "Sapphire, what is so amusing?"

She glances up at me, then above my head, and cascades into further chuckles that look to almost hurt her in their enthusiasm. How dare anything – even her own body – hurt her! _But,_ I have to admit – even whilst considering ways to punish everything that might even _attempt_ to harm her – _she is so very beautiful when she is happy, I will let it go on for a few moments more at least._

Which of course, leads to a few more, then a few more...

Eventually, I realise it is definitely time to stop, she is turning purple, and that cannot be a good thing.

…

"SAPPHIRE!" he shouts at me, scaring me out of my mirthful state with a flinch of surprise.

"Y-yes, Faro?" I reply, recovering from the scare.

"You asked earlier for us to go current surfing together."

My insides positively _quivered_ at the way he said that, it was almost like... almost like he was asking me out. _Holy crap,_ I think to myself as I suppress a titillated giggle, _please be asking me out, please be asking me out_. Over and over.

"Yes." I answer, praying that I sound calm and collected, not like a young girl who's wriggling with anticipation of her first boyfriend/date/kiss/etc. – even though that's totally what I am.

"We've finished, those shells were the last thing we needed to get."

"Finish— Wait... we can _go_?" I'd give a lot of things to take away the complete disbelief of that comment "There's no terrible disaster going to stop us? Mellina _isn't_ in dire need of a day off so we gotta babysit Mordowrgi? Saldowr _doesn't _need _anything_ else for the day? You have _nowhere_ you need to be?" Faro nods "You can just... spend the day with me?" I add, hating the fact that it just won't sink in, and I expect him to suddenly laugh and yell 'Just kidding!' then list all the other places he's got to be, and if I want to be with him, I've got to help too.

_Sapphire, it is surely not so strange? We have many days that we have spent simply just us together, and there will be hundreds if not thousands in the future_. He speaks into my mind, having read the confusion there.

_Stop reading my thoughts Faro._ I counter.

_Why shouldn't I? We used to spend hours like this, no words, only thoughts and feelings._

I shield my mind as one, blazingly bright thought flares through my head: _But that was before I fell in love with you._ Instead letting him hear: _But then I grew up, and it became inappropriate for a boy to be able to sense my body in such a way._

_You'd be able to sense mine just as well._ He points out.

_Yes but_— I cut off, not letting him know that I have been thinking an awful lot about, well, how Mer do _it_ without the _parts_. I mean, seriously, how can they make anything – especially something as complicated as babies – if they haven't got the tools for the job?

That conversation would be _way_ too awkward. Having to explain the human birds and the bees, then in turn interrogate him on the Mer way. Yeah, between girls that's tense but possible, between a guy and a girl... No, just no.

_Sapphire? What 'the hell'_ – I can feel his amusement – _are you thinking about? Why bees of all things, or birds for that matter, neither of which are in Ingo?_

_Well, um, it's a human expression for something that weirds you out, and I was thinking it would describe the idea of thought-sharing._

_Nice save, Sapphire,_ I think to myself at that, preventing his hearing it.

"Well, if you dislike it so much, why do you not just say so?" he remarks with his casualness that suggests he might actually not realise he's intending to be purposely annoying – if that makes any sense with all the 'double negatives' I think they're called.

"I say so all the time." I answer, keeping a lid on the exclamation that it wanted to escape as. "Shall we go?" I offer my arm, but he just looks at me quizzically, guess the Mer weren't all that into chivalry in their olden days...

That's something I need to ask Faro about someday, how the Mer changed over time, whether they ever said 'forsooth' or anything like that. There might even be an interesting lesson in it, especially as – unlike maths with Conor or anything at school – I can sit ogling the teacher and trying not to drool cos he looks so yummy!

"'Yummy'?" Faro asks, raising an eyebrow and stopping my heart, and not only cos his confused look is just as edible as the rest of them.

_Oh crap, oh crap, he read my mind and now he knows that I think he is the fittest thing to walk—swim on this Earth... Most-important-ever note to self: __**Must**_ _keep portcullis down at all times! _And I slam it down, being sure to block all the holes.

"Don't read my mind! Some thoughts are private!" I yell at him, my eyes burning with at-the-ready tears.

"I didn't, all I sensed was you thinking that one of your teachers was 'yummy'... Surely you did not intend to eat your teacher!" he even looks a little nervous, but then again, if it was suddenly implied to me that Conor was a private cannibal, I'd be more than a little creeped out...

"No, of course not! Humans have several words meaning physically attractive, loads of which originate from things tasting nice." wow, I sounded like a dictionary of some sort "Gorgeous, delectable, delicious, tasty, dessert, to name a few." well, at least I hadn't used the cliché of 'and many more' that would have just been too embarrassing.

"Whatever you say Sapphire, it sounds to me like humans focussing on food too much, as per usual."

"Faro!" I cry in exasperation, wanting to shake him, but knowing I could never make him move unless he let me, I go for just shrieking at the top of my lungs "We _need_ food! We _need_ heat! We _need _light! Humans cannot live without them, we _die_ if we try to! Unlike in Ingo, we cannot get all of our energy just by breathing, and by eating when we want to exert ourselves!" I'm pretty sure after that, my scientific babbling put Faro at a loss, but I kept at it anyway, he might just get it into his thick skull.

…

"In Air we have a force called gravity which is like a lead weight pulling you down into the Earth, it's not strong enough to do that, but it makes us tire out easily. The air we breathe, even when clean isn't as lifegiving as the water is to Mer, we need food or we cannot create energy enough to live! Hell, Faro, you've been in the Air in the Arctic, don't you remember what that felt like? Well that's a taste of how humans feel even in summer in England sometimes, that's what clothes and radiators and heating are for, and houses too! Even the Mer know darkness Faro, well, imagine that, but not being able to tell which way you're facing, falling over and the sick pain of falling onto something sharp when you cannot see it. Humans go blind after a few weeks in darkness, imagine never being able to see Faro, even in the light, think how horrible that would be, never able to watch the fish, or look at a dolphin..."

_Or you_, I think for a moment, deeply moved by her speech, even though I can see she's not really thinking about it, it's just happening, all of the facts she knows are coming out like I'd pressed a 'button' by saying that humans eat too much.

"Sapphire..." I murmur softly, trying to interrupt her flow of speech but only if she chooses to stop.

She cuts of mid-sentence, something about why they need electricity. "Yes Faro?" she sounds tired, hoarse and sad – why sad?

"I thought you wanted to go surfing, not support human rights."

She blinks at me "Human..." and laughs once, quietly "Human rights means something very different Far, they're all about the basic— no, actually some of that _did _fall under human rights." she shakes her head "And now I'm gonna stop before I confuse myself again." she glances at me and grins, showing her slightly-off yet cute teeth "Let's go!"

…

And we do. Faro leads the way, as usual, as he has an uncanny – which has a usage completely different to its literal meaning of 'not shrewd' – sense of direction due to being Mer, one that even my perfectly divided blood cannot replicate.

I have no trouble keeping up with him, Faro has long-since learned how to adjust his stroke so I do not exhaust myself. _It is a little strange actually, _I think to myself as we swim, _that only Faro has been my real friend amongst the Mer, the rest are indifferent to my presence except: Saldowr (who's like a generic grandpa or uncle, telling stories about when everyone else was younger), Mellina (who I think hates me just a little, holding me responsible for Dad's death), Elvira (who I've only seen once since she declared the North to be her home, when she visited for Mordowrgi's third birthday), and Mordowrgi himself (who adores playing with my feet, but otherwise isn't interested by me as a person)._

_So, it really is only Faro. Yes, sometimes we'll go see his friends, but they're wary of me, and I know its not just my legs that they have their eyes on (typical for males of any species I guess)._

I am jogged from my thoughts by the sight of it, it is very beautiful, as all currents are. This one is a shining, clear ribbon of glacier green amidst aqua blue, cutting the water like an aeroplane through the sky.

I let out a little gasp of appreciation, and Faro glances at me for a moment before returning his own eyes to the stunning entity before us. He told me long ago that currents, while maybe not having a mind exactly, are essentially living creatures and have moods and decide whether or not its inhabitants have been naughty or nice, so to speak, and react accordingly.

Well, we would find out if this beauty of a thing liked us, or not.

"Leel Nell." Faro says proudly, smiling as I replay it in my head so it will translate, it does, as: Local Power. That was a damn good name for the current if you were gonna name it, it was most certainly the strongest I'd seen anywhere near home. Only the colder coloured Northern current beat this one in its appearance of sheer, well, power. "It splits off into many other smaller currents, but the best ride is the central column. You don't wanna get caught if it forks, the force of it could tear a whale apart if the angle was wrong." he looks at me over his shoulder "Still wanna give it a try?"

I stare right back, a challenging smirk growing on my face "Hell yeah, I'd like to see a current _try_ to pull us apart." I tap the bracelet of hair still entwining my wrist after all this time and think to him. _Deublek, you said, two together, and strong as we were in the Deep. Nothing can separate us if we don't want it to._

I smile at him, thinking sadly to myself behind my walls: _Nothing can distinguish the join between the hair, so no-one can see the connection between us, not even you, my dear Faro... Why are all guys so blind?_

Faro returns the grin, an arrogant, sly expression "Well then Sapphire, shall we put that to the test?"

I say nothing, just keep up the smile and slowly leak my excitement into it and let myself bob about a little with anticipation.

Faro laughs "I guess that's answer enough, race you!" and powers away with the strength of his tail, towards the glassy surface of the current.

"Hey! That's cheating!" I call after him, beginning to follow anyway.

He looks at me over his shoulder, grinning "Cheating? Me? Never!"

"Cheating? You? Always!" I yell back, kicking my legs frantically to keep up with him in the slightest. Predictably, I do not catch up with him, he reaches the borders of the current's danger zone, and waits for me – he's always waited for me...

…

I wait for her, smiling, already feeling both awful and elated at what I know is soon to happen. I have been waiting for so long for this moment, the moment I will finally say – to quote Sapphire – screw it, and do what I have been cursed against doing.

_But she could die, _a cruelly reasonable voice in my head whispers, _one slip, one second, and it could be all over._

_No! _I tell the voice. _I will not let anything happen to her! She will never come to harm if I can prevent it. Her light will never be put out, she is the sun, she will never die, she is the light of the world._

Well. It is time. Now or never. The choice must be made. Do I dare risk it just for the chance to be with her, to hold her, to caress her soft skin and stroke the wonder of her hair?Do I risk it for the chance to whisper all the words I _ache_ to tell her, all the love she needs to know?

The answer comes to me before I have even finished asking the questions.

Yes.

…

Faro mouths something to himself with a smile, it looks like 'Yes'. A bit odd, but I am thinking it too, a continuous stream of _yesyesyesyesyes_ because of the excitement thrumming through my body. I briefly wonder if I look like Sadie when she hears the word 'walk' because her whole body vibrates with her enthusiasm... just as mine is.

_Yes, _I decide, _I have been leashed too long_. I am about to be set free into the wilds of Ingo. Into the Leel Nell, the Local Power, the strongest current for miles around.

Faro and I swim only a stroke and a half closer before we feel it, the sheer _force_ of it – and it sucks us in, hugging us close to its heart.

I scream, not with fear or pain, but joy and pure _liberation_. I had forgotten the ecstatic _rush_ of speed, the _aliveness_ of it. I cannot believe I'd ever given up on the pounding strength of water that could tear you apart, but instead decides to let you live and share in its journey.

Faro and I tumble over and over, shrieking out laughter and other wordless noises of elation. We are revelling at the blur we have both become. We are rejoicing at the unravelling of our bodies until we are nothing but atoms, speed, the need for it and the fulfilment of it.

There is no such thing as I. We are all one with Leel Nell. The current feeds us, keeps us alive, but we would stay even if it did not. It is a drug we take willingly, knowing we will eventually have to suffer its withdrawal but not caring because of the high we ride on, and in.

I _am_ Leel Nell. It is all I see, it is all I sense and all I am. I love Leel Nell, more than anything, because I feel nothing here, nothing but the pure exaltation of flying, soaring. I am not under or over, or in or out. I am not of Moryow or of Norvys. I am not divided. Because there is no I, there is only we.

We race further and further, faster and faster, miles and miles of it. We continue to yell and cry with the euphoria of it, twisting into more and more impossible shapes to increase the sensations. Whatever it is I am has flipped into a ball so rolls bouncily instead of flying straight – it is _fun_, the speed is less, but the pounding tickle of complete enjoyment in my head is more.

After an endless expanse of time I straighten into a line, whatever it is I am physically is pressed into its thinnest possible form, crushed until streamline. My form shoots ahead like a bullet, followed by another almost like me, but I am the fastest, my rush is quicker and stronger, but we are both crying out painfully blissful screeches.

We _are_ speed.

…

This is what I have been planning for so long. We are coming up to the pass, the reason only lunatics attempt to ride this current. They are two vast rock faces, sharp and jagged in some places, blunt and pitted in others – but none of it is safe. Unless you are already dead, the current will kill you here.

I must pull her out at the exact right moment, she must be in danger, but not enough that I cannot protect her.

"SAPPHIRE!" I shout, as if I have only just remembered the danger – which is not a lie, I had forgotten it along with everything else because of the narcotic effect of such speed.

She does not react, she has probably forgotten her name, I have forgotten mine, but I could never forget her. I know that much, I love her, but have been planning to risk her life in order to break a spell... or something like that – it means little to me now, speed is everything.

I had truthfully forgotten that Leel Nell does this – does what... Um...

Oh, yes, it makes you forg—

"SAPPHIRE!" I scream, real fear this time as I wake up fully and see exactly how close the rocks are. "SAPPHIRE!" I cannot stop yelling her name, it may already be too late, this was a terrible idea, and now we're both going to die.

She doesn't answer, so I reach for her mind instead, yelling frantically _SapphireSapphireSapphireSapphireSapphire please hear me! We need to get out now! OUT NOW! OUT! OUT! OUT!_

I take my own advise, shaking the dopiness the current had settled on me and bursting out. It is a terrible angle and gives me dozens of varyingly painful bruises, the blow to my stomach doubling me over and causing me to emit several highly embarrassing sounds which are a mixture of gasps and groans.

…

"SAPPHIRE!" something yells, breaking the ecstasy for but a moment, it is easily ignored. "SAPPHIRE! SAPPHIRE!" it repeats, more irritating, and harshing my buzz for a little longer, but again, I can put it out of my head with a little effort and return to the embrace and equality of the wonderful world around me.

_SapphireSapphireSapphireSapphireSapphire please hear me! We need to get out now! OUT NOW! OUT! OUT! OUT!_

Sapphire... that's me, isn't it? Yes, Sapphire is my name. I am Sapphire.

But, then who was that? Who did that thing to my head? Who made everything hurt? Who broke the beautiful spell of the swirling water? And, more painfully, why?

_SAPPHIRE! PLEASE! IT'S ME, FARO! YOU MUST GET OUT NOW!_

The sheer intensity of the pressure in my mind wants me to black out, faint and remain here forever. _No, _I think to myself as memories and sense return, _I am not staying here! I am going with Faro! Because... because I lo—_

…

Sapphire moves towards the wall of the current, and I am counting the seconds as she is swept closer and closer to her doom. _She can't die, she just can't! _I think it over and over, as if the repetition will somehow make it true, my mind begins to babble. _If she lives, I'll put her in a box, a padded box, and she's never going to come out, because I won't let her, I won't ever do something so stupid as to let her do anything even remotely dangerous again. I won't even visit her, because if I do I'll want to let her out. But I can't, she must be safe, and I always put her in danger._

The current bucks, bending from its normal shape, throwing Sapphire from its body, and into free water. I almost die from relief, until I hear her mind.

_Faro... Goodbye. I—_

I had not noticed the momentum the current had given her, the speed of her body when it threw her. I still cannot make the images work in my head. Light shimmers reflections across her body, making her shine like a star as she floats down to the seabed, nestling lightly on the sand, hair floating gracefully about her body.

What has happened?

Then it hits me, I shake my head defiantly as I see exactly where she lies, on the sand beside one of the rock walls. Sapphire realised before I did. She said goodbye.

The current threw her into the rock face. Head first. Leel Nell killed Sapphire.

And it's all my fault.


	6. Consequences

**Thank you 'Ingo lover', your review made my day! You are my new favourite person. I do try to make them as long as possible, but there's only so much filling you can stuff into the plot sandwich before you ruin it – if that makes sense.**

**I'm sorry about Saldowr's bits, I know he's OOC, I can't understand his mind enough to write him well.**

**PS: If you want to know(or check) the meanings of the Mer words I use, this is where I get them from **

**www.**

**howlsedhes.**

**(Just remove the gaps)**

**PPS: 'Digestif' for those who don't know, is Italian, not Mer/Cornish, it is the term for an after-dinner drink which aids digestion.**

**xxx GC**

* * *

_How? How could I have let this happen?_ I think numbly as I look at Sapphire's dreadful stillness. _How could I have thought that it was a good plan? How could I ever risked her life just to be with her? I should've followed Saldowr's advice of "If you love her, let her go" but I couldn't, I'm so utterly useless that I cannot obey my master to keep the love of my life safe. And in the end I killed her, not the rocks, not the current, not the blow to her head, me, I did it. I am responsible._

And, the cruel irony is, I cannot bring myself to touch her, even in death – I do not deserve it, because I did not save her. This is all my fault.

Of course, objectively I realise what all this is, denial. I also realise that the overload of "It's my faults" are just to block out the impending fact. The fact that will eventually sink in and utterly destroy me, rip my soul apart and laugh as it does it, twisting the beauty of her joy into a mockery of itself just to punish me.

I killed her.

The words swirl endlessly in my mind, doing their best to prevent the next set following, but all walls must break in the end. The floodgates must open to reveal the knowledge I know is coming but hope to never have to understand.

_That means Sapphire is dead. Do you hear me Faro?_ The practical part of me said, leading me into despair. _Sapphire is dead. Gone out. Poof! The sun has died. The light is gone. You are surrounded by darkness. You live in darkness. You don't remember what light feels like, do you? Because the light is gone, everything that was once beautiful or shining or happy has been taken._

_There is no point to your existence any longer. You have failed in your purpose. You were supposed to keep her safe, but you let her die. And now she is dead. Dead, and she will never smile like the sun, or have tears like diamonds, or laugh like..._

It goes on and on, the tormenting facts and implications and reverberations of her passing. I randomly remember something she told me once, when we were in the North. The Atka, the Atka decides when you pass from one world to another... so, I must be her Atka, because I killed her.

…

Pain. Pain is everywhere. Pain is everything. Pain is all I am. Pain is all I know. Pain is all I exist for. Pain is my purpose. Pain...

I cannot escape it. I flee across worlds and time zones. I run from it. I swim from it. I fly from it. But I cannot get away. It pursues me everywhere, forcing me to retreat in the only way I can. I fall into myself, yet it finds me even there. I cannot escape it...

I cannot bear it. There are voices, voices singing in my head. A whole chorus of sirens calling to me, just as they did upon my return from the Deep. The music is lyrical but terrible, beautiful but lethal, the sweetness of it pulls me under, begging me to drown just to hear it. I do my best to ignore, but I know it is a battle I will lose. They twist one of my poems, reshaping it with their horrific voices and turning it into a foreboding of doom. I cannot bear it.

"_Come with us to Ingo,_

_Come to see the sea._

_Soar with us through its waters,_

_Where your soul is lost to thee._

_The seas of the world,_

_Named you as their friend,_

_It was your recognition pattern,_

_But even that can end!_

_You felt the life of Moryow,_

_It flowed through you like peace,_

_But here we are, regardless,_

_With your life soon to cease._

_The fish will flicker gaily,_

_The dolphins laugh and play,_

_But you will not be here,_

_And none will care either way!_

_Ingo owns your blood,_

_You belong to the sea,_

_But Ingo is not your home,_

_You are a slave to we!"_

The voices cackle as the torment me by twisting the love in my poem to hate. I cannot stop their whispering that destroys my certainty of everything. _Was Ingo ever a joy to me? Or was that all a dream?_

_Oh someone, please help me! It hurts so much, I cannot stand it!_ I think to myself, wishing that mind-reading and telepathy were possible so anyone could hear me, but they're not, so I'm doomed.

A thought flickers through me, quickly destroyed by the endless singing of the twisted poem. The memory had given me a slight hope which was now crushed. I had recalled a name, only a name, but all of the comfort it had carried with it kept me going for a few more moments.

Only to be followed by my silent screams.

…

I do not dare to hope. I stare continuously at her, thinking my eyes must be wrong, that my ears are fooling me. But, if they are, they are tricking me with surprising continuity. The thing I cannot accept is that my eyes show a slight movement in Sapphire's torso, a minuscule lift of her ribs every few moments. My ears show a similar pattern, a faint rasp to match the timings of the stirring.

I am lying on the sand beside where her body fell, and have been doing so for quite some time. Her 'watch' has not yet beeped, so I know it has been less than a day, but it has been eternity nonetheless.

_I must take the hope into myself, _I decide. My eyes and ears have never fooled me this decisively ever before, so I must conclude that they are right. And... if they are right, Sapphire is breathing, which means... Sapphire is alive.

I do not perform a million somersaults as I would have expected to do upon such joyous news. I know this is serious, she may be alive, but only just. I must do _something_. Yet, I still cannot bring myself to touch her, I do not deserve the reward of feeling her tender skin beneath my fingers. But I still cannot just leave her here, even if there was no way at all to bring her to safety without fetching help. I would rather watch over her forever than leave her for even a moment.

_I am rambling, _I tell myself, _stop it, and __**think**__. You cannot pick her up, but Conor never said about other Mer or the dolphins. You can, therefore call upon one to help you. So, first things first, find one._

_But,_ a realistic voice called, _how are we supposed to do that? You cannot see anyone through all this open water, it is always empty around here, everything knows how dangerous it is._

_Well then, _the desperate part replied, _you shall have to call someone mentally then, won't you, be glad you're not a little more human, or you'd be stuck right now._

So I do. I close my eyes tight shut and spread out my mind, searching for any form of life. I have never noticed how tiring it is to search with my mind, how exhausting to wander through the recesses of consciousness in hopes of finding another pulse, another beating heart to connect to. I feel faint after only a moment or two of it, but know I mustn't give in, if I do, Sapphire will die, and I will follow her as it is written in me to do so.

Opening my mind allows me to be far more susceptible to danger physically, as I can no longer focus with my eyes or ears, I may notice things with them, but the details will mean nothing until it is too late. However, having such a receptive state did have one advantage – or disadvantage, depending on your opinion – in that I could sense a little of Sapphy's mind.

On the plus side, it is a good thing she's thinking, but her thoughts are not good ones. The feeling of overwhelming pain is consuming her periodically, and when she has any relief from it, she is fearing its return. But, even as all this is happening I can sense dread of something else, something worse than the pain – though I do not understand how anything can be worse from the tiny amount I feel myself from touching her mind.

_Oh my poor Sapphire... _I whisper into her mind, hoping it does not hurt her more. _I'm so sorry for letting this happen, but I'm going to get help for you. It's going to be okay, just hold on a little longer._

_Please don't leave me Sapphire…_ I think to myself, forcing my search radius to grow wider. Encompassing a greater area is even more taxing, but I must, so I will. I cannot let her die. I would not be able to bear it, it would kill me to lose her for real.

…

"_Full fathom five, your father died,_

_In the coral, his bones are laid,_

_You were nothing in his eyes,_

_A mistake he left to trade,_

_He abandoned his worthless gem,_

_And made a diamond, with one of them!_

_A sea-lady who brought about your knell,_

_Time to die,_

_Time to die now, broken girl!"_

And again they laugh as they mock the poem, though this time they have not strayed far from the meaning, only the words.

_How dare you mock Shakespeare!_ I think to them, only to scream and writhe as they flood my existence with pain. I cry in silence as dry tears pour down my absent cheeks. I had never imagined pain such as this, and cannot explain it in any way at all. The closest analogy I can find is to mix having your soul torn apart as your body is dipped in boiling oil then thrown into a volcano, while all the while being told that every love and happiness you've ever known was not just a lie, but something you invented to try to escape the pain of your existence.

All that, and it is not enough to describe even a percentage of the agony that holds me still and silent even though all I am is screams.

…

Mellina? I can feel the vaguest conception that my aunt is somewhere nearby, Mordorwrgi's not-yet-entirely-formed personal signature is coupled with hers, so I am almost certain I am not imagining it.

_Mellina... _I call across the distance. _Aunt Mellina? Can you hear me?_

I sense a wave of confusion through her subconscious. _Aunt... _she thinks, bemused. _Ah, then you must be Faro?_

_Yes, I need your help, it won't take long._

She is wary now, I have always known she does not like me much, after all – in her mind – Mother died because of Elvira and I. _What is it you need from me, Faro? _She enquires, and I can feel her holding her son close, as if I could harm him even by speaking to her in her head.

_Your presence, here, as soon as possible. _I show her where we – Sapphire and I – are.

I instantly get back a flood of panic, even for the nephew she holds responsible for the death of her twin sister – that would be touching if I hadn't more pressing concerns. _What are you doing there?! Are you out of your mind?!_

_Apparently, I am, I wasn't thinking. **Please** come, Sapphire's hurt._

She is going to refuse, she might've come if it was me – her own family – in danger, but Sapphire, nope, not happening. _Why should I help __**her**__? _She asks, furious but slightly curious as well.

_Because __**I**_ _can't. _I reply simply but cryptically.

I can almost see the narrowing of her silvery eyes. _Why?_ I have always admired the way she can make even one word into such a challenge – not.

_I'll tell you later, just please help me! I thought she was dead a minute ago, but she's breathing, she hit her head and she's unconscious. Mellina please! Please, please help me!_ I know I sound delirious and stupid with fright, but I am.

_All right, all right. _Her tone softens. _I will be there in a few moments, do not move._

_I wouldn't leave her alone._ I growl, angry at the suggestion, but so relieved that my aunt is finally coming to help... And I still won't have to, um, activate – wrong word, but I can't think of the right one – Conor's spell.

…

_Help me!_ I scream, fighting to move my limbs. _Faro!_ Yes, I remember him now, he's my best friend, the one I have been falling in love with ever since I met him.

"_Not coming. Nobody's coming. No-one is going to sssave you Sssapphire."_ the voices whisper calmly, with no stresses – which is almost worse than cackles or threats. "_You are all alone. All alone in the dark, with usss. Yesss Ssssapphire, allsss alone with usss. Don't worry Ssssapphire, we love Ssssapphire, Ssssapphire tastessss sssso goodsss!"_

They are eating me. Of course, I already knew that, it's what hurts so much. Whatever it is that speaks to me now – and spoke to me in my dreams after coming back from the Deep – is feeding off of not just my body and strength, but my soul, which is why I was so numb last time when I woke. So why don't I have the luxury of the beautiful dreams and peaceful sleep of last time?

"_Becausesss, we are not letting you go again, tasssty Ssssapphire, yummy Sssapphire. Not sssstopping till you all gone, all eaten, all dead."_

_Faro... _I whimper in pitiful silence, _Faro please help me!_

"_No! No helpsss, no sssavingsss, no ressscue. Not like last time! No-one to help. No Sssaldowr to sssave you. No brother to bring you back with tearsss of love. But we love you, you is tasssty Sssapphire. Tasssty, tasssty little girlsss. You are bessst though, bessst blood, bessst insidessss too."_

_Wait... You want me for my blood?_

"_YESSS! Bloodsss good! Sssoulsss too!"_

_You're a vampire then?_

"_Pah! Vampiresss isss humansss thing! We are usss! We devour all, take esssencesss, all life, but you isss bessst, is delicassssy!"_

_You sound like the Kraken did._

"_Cussca, cusssca, cussssca."_ the voices mock, having swallowed my memories it seems they can use them too "_We are ssstronger than Kraken, we not sssleep, we are eating you, not you beating ussss!"_

_So what are you?_

"_We isss your massstersss! We sssay not talk! Be sssilent now, tasssty Sssapphire!"_

And I am, save for my cries of pain.

…

"Here, hold him." Mellina commands, forcing Mordowrgi into my arms, wriggling like an eel.

"What's happening?" he asks excitedly "What's Toesies doing here?"

"Don't call her that!" I snap, I have always despised the name ever since the child invented it. "Sapphire is her name."

Mellina looks at me suspiciously at the outburst "Now, now Mordow, don't call people names."

The infant shrinks in my arms, but grins at me "Cousin Faro!" he shrieks, going straight for my cheeks and rubbing them with his little hands, pushing my face into painful shapes.

"Stop that!" I exclaim, projecting right into his mind so his mother will not hear: _Please, be still and quiet, Sapphire is very badly hurt and needs help. Sapphire is my best friend and I am very scared, please just be good._

Mordowrgi blinks at me, stunned as he bites his lip, replying: _Sorry, Faro. Will Toesies be okay?_

_I don't know. But the faster we get her home, the better._ I continue aloud "Mellina? What should we do with her?"

Mellina dives to the sandy floor, observing my poor Sapphire with cool detachment "Hit her head, did you say?"

"Yes, we were pulling out when the current bucked, throwing her into the rocks. I thought she was dead." I shudder and Mordowrgi hugs me – I appreciate the idea, but it doesn't help.

Mellina glances at me, that suspicion still in her eyes. "Well," she looks from the current, to the rock face to Sapphire "I see no good reason why she is alive. That should have killed her." Well, _that_ could be taken more than one way.

I decide not to lunge at her for daring to say that to my face, instead I just scowl inwardly and reply "What should we do with her? We can't just leave her here!"

She smiles, not a particularly nice one either "No, we cannot. I will carry her to whatever aid you wish Faro, but only on one condition."

"Which is?"

"You tell me why you do not take her yourself, if you love her so much?"

I freeze, and Mordowrgi has to 'accidentally' bat his tail against my bruised stomach before I have the presence of mind to answer. "Because," I say through gritted teeth "of her brother."

Mellina laughs, and it is as bright and musical as her voice, but nothing compared to the sunny joy shown by Sapphire's giggles. "At last we agree on something! What grievous thing has your little gem's broder done to prevent you from saving her life?"

"He put a spell on me, and threatened to reveal Ingo."

_That_ stopped her chuckles.

"How could a human brat put a spell on you?"

"He's not human, he's got Earth magic and Mer blood. He told me he'd know if I ever touched Sapphire again, regardless of the circumstances. And, that if I did, he would reveal Ingo by 'exposing its weakest member' which I assume would be Mordowrgi because he's just a child and can't fend for himself."

"I can too!" the kid yells, raising his fists and placing little punches on my arms.

Mellina, however, is not insulted by the news, she mutters several curses, including many words I will not mention which were exclusively for Conor. "Are you certain he could do such a thing to his own lesvroder? His own family? As I understood, the Trewhella's a very family-focussed collection of humans."

I cannot help but think: _Until __**you**_ _ripped them apart_. "Conor has changed since last you saw him. Ridding the world of Ervys has also obliterated the compassion once inside him. I think him quite capable of having his half-brother pulled apart by humans in white coats, since he was already forcing his once-beloved sister into a stress-induced despair."

Mellina frowns, "Enough of this, before we scare the child."

For a moment I think she is insulting Sapphire again, but then I spot the look on my cousin's face, the abject horror in those sparkly grey eyes. "Kenderow?" the kid whispers as Mellina scoops my broken Sapphire into her arms, "Cousin?" he repeats, poking my neck to get my attention.

"Yes?" I answer, trying to keep the fury from my voice as it is not him who is manhandling my karadow, my dear one, my true lo—

"They won't hurt me, would they?" his eyes are wide with horror. "Mamm wouldn't let them, would she?"

Mellina looks over at us at that "Of course not babi! A whole army couldn't take you away from me!"

Mordowrgi outwardly calms at that, happily swimming while his clutching of my wrist shows just how scared he is. It is like that all the rest of the way, I hadn't even noticed where we were going, but even though I'd been rebelling recently, I suppose my instinctive reaction to trouble is still to ask Saldowr.

…

"_Mmmm... You ssstill isss yummy Sssapphire, even with ssso littlesss left of you. The lassst morssselsss isss alwaysss the bessst."_

I am only vaguely aware of the voices as they continue to sing various songs and poems that I know, corrupting the lyrics into harmful, hateful things. But I no longer care, I cannot bring myself to feel, I am too tired for the effort of it.

"_We can'tss have that tasssty girl. Bessst flavoursss come with ssscreamsss."_

My tormentors trail their icy tendrils across me, pinpricks of cold pain followed in their wake, but I still cannot summon any care for it, I am too far gone.

I am dying, this I have known for a while, yet I still cannot force myself into caring. Death is nothing new to me. I have been dead all this time, I cannot move, I cannot feel or see or hear, I am not breathing, I am not speaking. I have nothing to prove that I am alive, so I cannot be.

What hurts most is that I begin to wonder if life was something I created, something I invented to try to cheer myself. What of my memories have any proof to them? Did I just make-believe my family, my love for them, my pain at Dad's death? Did I just make up the beauty and majesty of both Earth and Ingo, the flight of birds and dolphins, the barking of dogs and seals?

What of anything that I know is true?

"_Nothing little one! All that isss, isss yousss and usss. You live to feed usss, you live for usss!"_

That is depressing. I wish for death if only to escape this.

This is not life.

…

"Faro?" Saldowr emerges from his cave, cape flowing languidly like his silvery hair "How pleasant to see you with others than Sapphire for a change." he then notices Sapphy in Mellina's arms "Oh... What _have_ you done Faro?" he narrows his eyes at me, as if... no, he's correct, this _is_ my fault.

"Don't blame Faro." Mellina put in, much to my surprise "The current they were riding threw them both." she swims haughtily past Saldowr to place Sapphire on the rock shelf/bed in his cave.

As she is doing this, I pull the bag over my head and hand it to Saldowr "We got the things you wanted." is all I say as I know if I keep my mouth open I will begin sobbing like a girl.

"You are injured Faro." He comments, not even looking at the bag's contents as he deposits it into a niche in the rocks nearby. "You should not have attempted Leel Nell. You know better than that."

I say nothing, I know I do not need to and quite frankly it hurts too much to speak.

"But, I will not reprimand your actions, you are both facing the consequences of your stupidity already."

Finally allowing myself to clutch my agony-ridden stomach, and show the pain I am feeling, I gasp out "Can you help her?"

"Perhaps, but perhaps not."

"CAN. YOU. HELP. HER. OR. NOT!" I shout as Mellina returns, tugging Mordowrgi away to watch a starfish.

"I would refer you to my previous remark, I do not know at this exact moment Faro, she may wake up as we speak, or never. However, I do congratulate you for having the presence of mind to keep your promise to both Conor and I, by employing Mellina to bring her here."

"I'm sick of this." I hiss from my hunched position "Surely you can do something to counter Conor's curse!" But I've asked this before, and I know the answer.

"It is Earth magic, I can do nothing to counter it."

"Why?" I demand, thinking: _Surely if the sea can flood the land, then Ingo magic can fight Earth magic!_

"Why _what_, Faro? Be specific in your requests."

"Why can't you fight Earth magic?!" I yell, and Saldowr might have just... rolled his eyes – wow.

"Just as there are boundaries between the land and sea, there are also laws preventing Earth and Ingo's... protectors from intervening."

"How can you protect anything if you just sit back and let people die?!" I shriek at my master, clenching my fists and using all of my willpower not to punch him.

Saldowr smiles meaningfully "Just anyone? Or is this about Sapphire in particular?"

Well that answered the does-he-know question. "Anyone! But right now, Sapphire in particular."

"Ingo and Earth's protectors cannot intervene when those of mixed blood are involved, the blood of our own element prevents it."

"So... Conor having Mer blood is stopping you from cancelling out his spell?"

"Yes."

"But what's stopping you from helping Sapphire?"

Saldowr just looks at me for a moment, as if to say I have gone too far. But I don't care how far I have to go, I will not just float like algae and let her die!

"You Faro." is his eventual reply. "You yourself have trapped her in this limbo, comatose state."

"No." I say, it is all I can say. "No, I did nothing to her, and wouldn't ever let anything happen to her!"

"Except take her into Leel Nell just to make her smile?"

…

"_Ahh, Sssapphire, sssuch a ssshame. Ssso littlesss left of you. One more bite, one more mouthful is all that remainsss. But it isss the bessst of allsss, little Sssapphire hasss been holding on ssso tightly to thisss little piece, trying to hidesss it. Why isss you hiding it, oh deliciousss one? You do not wantssss usss to take it away from you? Ahhh, we forgotsss, you cannot ssspeaksss anymore, ssso little mind left, ssso little energy, ssso little ssspirit, all hidden away to protect the lassst piece of your sssoul."_

_No..._ It is the only thought I have. I cannot let them take it away from me, I cannot let them hurt it, spoil it, destroy the beauty of all that remains of me.

"_Love alwaysss tassstessss bessst. Love isss why people ssstay in our gripsss ssso long. Lassst time it was love for Ingo which kept you in a dream. Now, it isss for a pretty little creature."_

_No..._

"_Yesss, Sssapphire. We will findsss him, and eatsss him too. Faro will not be tasssty like you, but we will make him lassst by telling him how long you sssuffered, how long we kept you alive and ssscreaming. He will fight usss and feeds usss all the more for it."_

_No._

"_Oh yess, Faro will be ssso good as the __digestif__."_

_No._

"_Isss that all you can sssay Sssapphire?"_

_I, I... won't... let... you... hurt... him. _

"_And, just how are you going to ssstop usss Sssapphire? Tasssty Sssapphire. Dying Sssapphire."_

_I defeated... Kraken. _

"_Earth magic felled the Titan, we do not sssleep, we do not be tricked like you tricked that one. Earth and Ingo do not touch usss."_

_Then... what... are you? Where do you belong?_

"_One of our namesss isss Ssscylla. We belongsss... nowhere."_

I almost feel pity, for the creature, after all, when it wants it can sing so beautifully, and give such wonderful dreams…

"_We do not want your pity, broken girl! But, ahh, sssuch a ssshame, your death will be exquisssite, and it will bring the Faro-thing to usss, begging to die."_

_No! No, don't hurt him!_

"_Ahh, fear tassstesss so good, better and all the more flavoursssome becausesss you love him."_

_Stop it._

"_I can sssee your mind, you cannot lie to me. You have loved him until the very lassst morsssel of your life. But it is time to die Sssapphire Two-Bloods, time to snuff out even your love."_

_Don't you dare hurt Faro!_

…

Sapphire is scared. I can feel it throughout my body, like my blood is screaming. Stretching my mind unbearably I sense the tiniest part of her thoughts:

"_Not sssstopping till you all gone, all eaten, all dead."_

_Faro please help me!_

Something is hurting her, and I cannot allow it to.

"Faro?" Saldowr asks, "Faro, do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you." I reply as sharply as I am able, but it is still not enough to express my anger and fear. "But I hear Sapphire too, she needs me, she's calling me."

He watches me for a moment, noting my restlessness, my desperation to be somewhere else. "Go. Go to your kares."

I am gone before he has even finished speaking the words. But at the sight of her, I sink slowly to the floor beside the rock shelf she is lying on, and begin to shake with guilt at her appearance.

Sapphire is far too pale, I can see the blue of her veins and her bones are more pronounced than they should be. It is like her muscles and blood have been sucked out of her, leaving only a bag of bones. Her hair does not float as it would normally, it seems gravity has decided to visit Ingo and drag her hair down, limp and lifeless, without its shining, jewel-like radiance. Her eyes are closed, but I feel sure that if they were open they too would be dull and dimmed, as if her soul had been stolen from her.

Conor once told me what happened after Sapphire emerged from the Deep, his description was a little like this, but far less severe. He had depicted her as thin, but now she had no mass whatsoever. He had imaged her as a little 'off' when she awoke, unsure of where she was, and completely oblivious to her normal love for him.

Remembering his story put a deeper, colder fear in me. If only a tiny amount of time in such a sleepy current had done that to her... Would my karadow even recognise me if she awoke – and, more worryingly, would I recognise her?

_No, _I tell myself, _Sapphire will be __**fine**__. And if she wakes up and doesn't remember me, I will __**make**__ her remember. I will bring her back if it kills me. I cannot deprive the world of her light ever again._

I am brought out of my thoughts by the sounds of movement behind me. I turn a little to see Mordowrgi attempting to wedge himself into a nook far too small to allow him. I briefly wonder what he is doing, but scold myself for being sidetracked. _I have more important things to worry about!_

_Faro... Help me..._ A deliriously-frightened sounding voice in my head. _I won't let you hurt him!_

_Sapphire. _I force my call into the white noise in her mind. _Sapphire, I'm here, you're safe. I won't ever let anything happen to you, not ever again.._

_But I did, _I think miserably to myself, _I let you be hurt so badly that Saldowr says you might never wake._

"Faro!" a shrill voice behind me, that I promptly ignore.

_Please forgive me Sapphire, _I continue in her head, _please forgive me for letting you get hurt like this. It was stupid of me, I just wanted to make you happy. I never wanted anything you hurt you, I—_

"Faro!" the voice yells again, shaking my shoulders and pulling me out of my head to look at what turned out to be Mellina's angry face. "Faro, have you seen Mordowrgi? He swam off, and we can't find him."

I point loosely behind me "He's hiding over there." the child squeals when his mother catches him, promising the scolding of his life, but not giving it, or at least, not yet.

"Teller!" Mordowrgi yells at me, with the comical fury unique to infants.

I do not answer him, my attention is back on the unnatural stillness of Sapphire, save for the almost-invisible raise and lowering of her chest as she breathes.

"There is little point in waiting beside her Faro. You heard Saldowr, she may never awaken." Mellina informs me, with a shocking amount of sympathy in her normally cold voice.

"I will stay with her until she does." my lips say, without my prompting them to, but it is just as well, I doubt I could talk of my own will if I tried.

"We must let him Mellina, he will pine for her regardless of where he is. At least here I can watch over him, and ensure he does not do anything rash." Saldowr tells her as he enters.

Mellina inhales sharply "What do you mean?" she asks accusingly.

"Perhaps something similar to your attempt after Mathew was taken to Limina?"

"How do y— Never mind."

"There are more things in Ingo and on Earth Mellina, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

I can picture Mellina's scowl at that, but nobody moves or says anything.

"Sapphire... My karadow, please wake up." I murmur into the silence.

"Faro! Stop!" Mellina and Saldowr shout as one, for a moment I don't understand why, until I look down at my hands…

Entwined with hers.

Her hands are so wonderfully soft, but I can feel each and every bone in them, how fragile they are. I can see the rivers of her blue veins, only a little darker than her blue-tinged skin – which unlike the Mer, does not seem natural and magical on her, it makes her look dead.

_Oh my Sapphire, what have I done to you?_ I ponder sorrowfully, lowering my head to kiss her fingers.

Only to be dragged away by the outright furious Mellina and Saldowr, yelling abuse that my numbed mind will not give meaning to. They shake me till my neck aches, and Mellina's nails dig into my right shoulder, drawing small trails of blood into the water around us all.

I do not know what they are saying to me, but my mouth replies to it, something like "The damage is done, if it was ever true. But I don't care," I shrug out of their hold "I will take full responsibility."

"You don't know the meaning of the word!" Mellina shrieks, grabbing Mordowrgi and holding him close as if he will disappear – but at the moment I can't bring myself to care, Sapphire is the one in danger of disappearing.

I am hazily aware of Mellina's departure, Saldowr's farewell to her, his shaking his head at me and murmuring "Such promise." then taking his own exit.

I am now alone with Sapphire. So, without the danger of Conor's threat looming over me, I wedge myself into the gap between her and the cave wall. Holding her close to me in a strange hug – strange as I have never held someone who did not hold me back – I put my forehead against hers and think the words _Come back to me Sapphire._ Accidentally letting more of my poem escape.

_The Black Star, Logan and Queen Marie,_

_Have nothing on the Sapphire that belongs to me._

_The Ruspoli cannot best you, for you shine with inner light,_

_I would follow you every day, and protect you every night._


	7. Revelations

**I guess I should be annoyed by this story, cos its getting in the way of any of my own work – but I'm not, cos I love writing it too much! I love Saphro, they're just sooo cute together (but I say that about every single couple I like, so you can't trust my judgement – I'm a complete romantic)**

**Okay, quite a few things to say:**

**In answer to a question: Karadow = loved one/beloved/true love. Kares = girlfriend/lover.**

**Again, for those who don't know, 'capisce' is an Italian word in relatively common usage, for 'understand'.**

**All copyright whatever for the song Saph sings goes to Sixpence None The Richer.**

**Fun fact: Helen Dunmore may have been spelling 'scolhyk' wrong! According to the websites I've looked at, it is spelt 'skolheyk' – she may have been right, since these things are up to debate anyway but I thought it was worth mentioning. However, I am going to continue spelling it her way for the sake of continuity.**

**Quick question for anyone who feels like answering: What do you think of my version of Scylla? I always thought the pairing of Scylla and Charybdis was a bit too coincidental since she was the child of gods/titans/sea monsters (depending on which version). It also struck me that HD never went into what the current was doing to Saph, so I wanted to explore that – hope it was okay!**

**PS: 'Ingo lover' you're still my fave person :D**

**xxx GC**

* * *

_Where am I?_ Is my first thought upon waking up. The second is: _I'm dead, so is this heaven?_ The third, upon spotting Faro's arm over my waist, is: _Yep, definitely heaven, Faro's here._ The fourth, rather more panicked is: _Shit, Faro's here, that means that thing got him too_.

The next thing I notice, is not the scenery, not the presence of anything that I recognise, but a pounding, stupidly cruel pain in my head. I'm not kidding, it is _everywhere_, from my eyes to the base of my skull. It is at that point I am fairly certain I am not in heaven or nirvana or wherever, because if I were, it wouldn't hurt. _So, what is Faro doing in hell? Faro is one of the best people – Mer or otherwise – that I have ever known, he does not belong in hell._

_So what the fu—_

Saldowr?

Saldowr is casually leant against the entrance of the cave, looking out into the open ocean as if he has not a care in the world – if he were not who he is, I would almost expect him to start whistling tunelessly.

Perhaps Saldowr will know what is going on? Because, if Saldowr is here, then it cannot be hell, or heaven for that matter, which means I am alive, but how? Surely that thing killed me? But, if I am dead, why does _everything_ hurt?

"I assure you, you are most certainly not dead Sapphire. Far from it in fact." Saldowr says, turning to smile calmly at me. "Though you may be a little more worse for wear than when you started this… adventure."

Ohh, I'm in Saldowr's cave! My brain finally recognises the place – but give me a little credit, all I can see of it is the ceiling and the entrance, since I cannot move to examine the place further.

With a whiny little moan, I force my throat to make words "What… happened?"

Saldowr meanders a little closer, so he can hear my tiny voice "I should think you know more than I do of it Sapphire, you're the one this has happened to twice."

"Yes… but what… did this… to me? And why… did it… stop?"

"I have no answer for your first question, but as to your second, I believe Faro was responsible." Saldowr's voice is harsh as he speaks of his scolhyk, but why?

"They called themselves... Scylla." I have to push the words out, and each is a horror to me, having to open locked doors in my memory to a dark time full of terrible fear and pain that made me beg for an end. The next sentence is painful for my sore body, but a blessed change to my mind – no longer having to remember _that_ "Scylla was a... monster in Greek... myths, wasn't she? A monster with... many heads, who... ate sailors."

"I do not know about human legends, but the Mer have told stories about something similar to their children for generations. However, we were never under the delusion that our monster existed, it was what you would call a 'ghost story' which was told to attempt to frighten family and friends." he pauses, putting on what I like to think of as the In-The-Olden-Days face "The story was of a creature who lived in the dark waters in crevasses and holes, as it had no form, only a voice. Having no physical substance, it needed to use other methods to trap its victims and could control the water if it so wished, twisting it into currents, whirlpools and spouts, whatever was necessary to capture its prey. Once the poor Mer was within whatever trap the monster conjured, this... Scylla would drain away the Mer's life, by devouring their memories, their spirit as well as their physical strength."

"That's what happened… to me. She called me… tasty, and was trying to… make me… last?"

Saldowr nods "It seems the stories had truth to them after all, but I wonder, how could such a being go unnoticed for so long? Even one or two Mer gone missing would be noticed."

"She said… she likes… my blood. Maybe only… took those with… mixed blood?"

Saldowr clasps his fingers "Maybe so, but they would still be noticed, for, unlike humans, we Mer do not allow our friends or family to stay missing."

I know as a human I should feel insulted by that, but in truth, I did more than was necessary to find Dad, and he had walked out on us, so I didn't much care how the Mer felt about their own going AWOL. "Not if they knew..." I say before knowing I am going to.

"Knew what?"

"That they had… human blood. The Mer have been… very bura-hara ever since… I became aware of… them." then, knowing what even Saldowr will have to ask, I add "Bura-hara is… blood prejudice."

"Ah, then I would have to agree with you. Before Ervys there were no open fights about such things, but the Mer have always been a little too proud of their purity of blood."

"Saldowr…?"

"Yes, Sapphire?"

"I… I should've died."

Saldowr laughs "Yes, to be quite honest, I am not certain how you survived, I am just glad you did." he has a strange look on his face, one I never thought to see on him or Granny Carne, but have been noting on many people recently – it is an expression of… suspicion maybe? "Though, perhaps I told a lie, I may have an idea as to how after all…"

"What? What saved me?"

"I believe your brother did, completely unknowingly. He both endangered your life and saved it."

"I… don't understand." I wince as I lift my head a little, the world swirls around me as if I'm in a washing machine.

"Earth magic, I believe Scylla was forced away by Earth magic."

"But Con's not here, he's refused to come to Ingo since Elvira went North."

Saldowr looks sad now, his gaze drops from my attempts to sit up, down to the sandy floor, then back to me "I think it is time you knew something Sapphire."

"Knew what?" Perhaps I should be able to figure out what Saldowr has been saying to me, but a blow to the head and the extreme migraine afterwards will do a lot for ruining your logic abilities.

"About the threat your brother poses to Ingo."

"What?!" I squeak "Con and I have saved Ingo a bunch of times."

"Maybe so, but you did such things out of the kindness of your heart. Your brother, if you will remember, was more focussed on keeping you safe, and keeping you legged."

"Really?" I answer doubtfully "I used to think Conor was the one who'd… go swimming off, with Elvira."

Saldowr's smile grows "As did we all, but it seems the tides have turned in that respect." he has that look again, that sort of… knowingness. "But, perhaps that is the very reason we are in this situation."

"Saldowr…" I whine, feeling awful about it, but I have to, I cannot keep up with these puzzles! "Just say it, I have an outrageous headache and I don't understand!"

He sighs, gesturing to Faro, sleeping peacefully behind me "Conor put an Earth magic spell on Faro, some two years ago, to try and force Faro to break friends with you."

"But… Conor wouldn't do that! He was Faro's friend too!"

"You do not believe me when I say your brother was… what is the human phrase, 'blackmailing' Faro?"

"No, I don't!" _How __**dare**_ _he say such a thing?! How __**dare**_ _Saldowr suggest such a… a… __**monstrous**_ _act of Conor?_

"I can give you proof if that will allay your human requirement for evidence instead of trust."

"Try me." I scowl at him, even though I cannot actually sit up, I feel that when I eventually can, I may slap him for saying something so horrible – especially to my face!

"I will open the memory to you, I trust you remember how to do such a thing?"

"Yes." my teeth are gritted, but I am not so angry at Saldowr now, my anger is at Conor and Faro— _How could Con be so cruel to my __**best**_ _friend? And how could Faro keep if from me, for __**two years**__?!_

I am abruptly swamped by the power of Saldowr's mind. I cannot feel any of his thoughts, and I know that if I did I would not understand them. Yet, one tiny moment of his flooded memory rushes out like a wave to meet with me. When it hits it is like a tsunami of power, but somehow absorbs me instead of drowning me.

I am inside one of Faro's memories… It should be a beautiful experience to witness life through the eyes of someone you adore, but I am quickly dissuaded of my illusion, something is very, very wrong.

_Conor's arms were folded, and he looked as serious as I'd ever seen him, with rage carefully hidden in his brown eyes. "I just wanted you to know something. If my sister were not here I would have hit you by now, but since she is, I'll have to do something else to dissuade you from ever touching her again."_

_What? _It seems Faro was as shocked by this as I am.

"_How dare you touch her? She's fourteen, a child! And here you are already trying to follow in your aunt's... example and lure my sister to become Mer!"_

"_But—"_

"_No! I'm not finished, you are. If you ever touch my sister again, you'll regret it, because I'll know. While you were in a trance staring at her, I made it so I'll feel it if you make contact with any part of her, ever, for any reason."_

_I did not know Conor's abilities here in Ingo, so had to believe him when he said it was possible. _Of course, I know that Conor has Earth magic, but how could he use it in Ingo? Surely they must cancel each other out, or something? "_But I'd never hurt h—"_

"_I don't care! You're going to end up making her turn Mer and leave her family. And I'm not going to let you." he smiled bitterly. _I already want to yell at Conor, tell him that it would take a lot more than Faro touching me to make me Mer – I hope.

"_Even if I did, and I don't," Though I'd certainly thought about it while watching her swim so slowly beside me on occasion "How would you stop me?" I was genuinely curious then. _So am I, Faro, so am I.

"_I'll reveal Ingo if you do." he stated simply, with no particular intonation, but it sent a shiver all the way to the tip of my tensed tail._ Oh Conor…How could you do such a thing? How could you ruin so many lives? How could you destroy something so precious, so beautiful, so fragile?

"_You wouldn't." I countered, hoping severely that it was true._

"_If you have Ingo take my sister, then you make Ingo my enemy, and you've already seen what I can do if I must."_

_This was not the Conor I had once known, this Conor seemed to take pride in the decimation of Ervys being his doing, instead of the horror that he had felt before. I had heard that killing changes people, but had never really believed Conor capable of this... malicious tone. _Yet, _I_ am thoroughly and miserably able to believe it, for I can see what the problem is here, even with all the pain running through my body, I can see what Faro could not.

_What could I do? I couldn't say anything in rebuke, out of plain fear of what he'd do. But how could I live without touching Sapphire? What if she needed me to? What if she were in danger? _Oh Faro… That's so sweet of you, but it would have been better to tell me. I could've resolved all this.

_I had to tell her. But I couldn't. How could I tell her that Conor had done such a thing? She would begin to fear her brother. _I could never fear Conor, I can dislike him, I can love him to bits, and I can yell and scream at him, but I have never been scared of my big brother. _What's more, how could I tell her how I felt about her... No. I mustn't tell her a thing, and I must somehow live the rest of my life without her – for if I was near her, I would want to touch her, hold her hand, her wrist, touch that soft flesh, the fine bones of her face. _Oh Faro… Why didn't you tell me?

_No. I could not bear to think of what I was to lose._

"_So, Faro, what's it to be? My sister? Or Ingo?"_

_I couldn't breathe, my chest was being crushed like when we were all in the Deep together. How could I betray Sapphire like this? How could I do such a betrayal to myself? "Ingo..." I mumbled miserably._

_Conor smiled "Good, good fish-boy." _I actually have to stifle a mental laugh at that, it has never even occurred to me to call any of the Mer a fish-person/wife/whatever.

_And I could not lash out at him for saying that. For fear that he would destroy my world by opening it to the Air and wrath of humans. I should never have trusted a human with the wonder of Ingo! _Oh please Faro, don't think like that, he doesn't mean any of it, this is for Elvira, not you or Ingo…

_Oh Sapphire, what have I done... _Wow, he thinks about me an awful lot…

"_So, just to make sure you've got it into that bubblebrained head of yours before my sister comes back. You are never going to touch her again, for any reason whatsoever, or I will know, and I will get a bunch of scientists to pull apart the weak link in the Mer chain. Capisce?" _

_I gritted my teeth at that, nodded but said nothing, it would just be baiting the shark, so to speak._

I am back in Saldowr's cave, blinking at the bizarre feeling of escaping his and Faro's minds. Yet, my first thought is one of gladness at the confirmation of my theory. Faro _had_ been going out of his way to not touch me, and it also explained his aversion to doing anything interesting – he couldn't protect me if anything went wrong.

"So, you see Sapphire, something must be done about Conor." Saldowr murmurs sadly.

"Don't do that face!"

"What face?" Saldowr raises an eyebrow, seemingly genuinely confused.

"The, it's-a-damn-shame-but-we've-gotta-put-him-down face, Conor is my _brother_, not a dog! What is it with Mer and forgetting that we're all living beings and should _care_ about one another?!"

"Mer do care about one another."

"Yeah, but do you care about anything else?!" I sit up, such is the strength of my fury "You're always accusing humans of being selfish and ruining the planet, but have you ever noticed how guilty most of us feel about it? Have you ever taken the time to realise how hard we're all trying to _save_ the planet? How we're using light bulbs so dim that we can't actually see, but at least they're eco-friendly? How we're recycling every item we possibly can, and having to spend hours learning what things go where? How we're spending so much of our well-earned money, not on our families or having fun, but on charities and awareness and generally saving lives of animals, people and the whole fucking world?!"

Saldowr does not even bat an eyelash at my outburst "Good, you have recovered. Now you can go home and make amends with Conor, and persuade him against this… madness."

"There you go again…" I mutter, seeing as shouting didn't work.

"There goes what again?"

"You're forgetting to _care_ about other people."

"How can you accuse me of that when I am trying to ensure the lives of each and every one of the Mer?"

"And forgetting Faro! Faro who has not woken up throughout this whole conversation even when I'm yelling my lungs off!"

"Ah, so that is what you meant."

I shake my head, exasperated "How can you be so… cold? So detached? Faro is your holyer and scolhyk, like your own son, and you don't seem to mind that he's completely comatose." I close my eyes for a moment, trying to breathe through the agony in my head, when I look up, my eyes feel like fire, twin infernos of rage "What's wrong with Faro?"

Saldowr shrugs – wow, never thought I'd see that – "A collection of things, the major factors being the idiocy of youth, coupled with an inability to withstand the consequences of his own foolish decisions."

"You're not helping…!" I groan, putting my face in my hands as a spectacularly strong throb of pain sets up its home at the back of my head. "Say it simply, stop equivocating!" my voice is probably muffled by my palms, but he seems to hear me "I can't figure out what the hell your riddles mean while my head hurts this much."

I peek at him through my fingers to see a smirk and laugh lines around his eyes "Well, if you want a clear cut list: First, are his injuries from escaping Leel Nell, unlike you he remain conscious regardless of the heavy brusing, but was in a lot more pain than he let Mellina or young Mordowrgi be aware of. Second, the blast of Earth magic seemed to stun him when it travelled through him and into you. Third and lastly, worry and guilt and despair do create a toxic mix inside any lovesick teenager, so he may be sleeping off a lot of fear amongst more physical ailments."

I rub my temples, trying to ease the throbbing even a little. "Will he be," I pause as it's getting hard to find words again "all right?"

"I suppose it depends on whether or not he learns his lesson, but you really need to be going Sapphire, Conor must be… appeased, before it is too late."

Much as it pains me to admit it – in both the literal and metaphorical meaning – I do not want to leave, and for another reason far bigger than not wanting to leave Faro alone when he didn't leave me. I do not trust myself to be able to get home at the moment, before collapsing or something equally as dangerous. "No, I'm not going anywhere." I inform Saldowr.

"You are in a fit state to make the journey."

"But I'm not ever going to be in a state that leaves Faro behind! Especially not when he's been watching over me for so long!" Again, pure irritation puts a little energy into my shouts. "I am staying _right here_ until Faro's better!" I inform him, folding my arms huffily.

Saldowr frowns "With every moment you remain, you put thousands more lives in danger."

I refuse to acknowledge his words, I've always had a stubborn streak "I'm not leaving."

He finally seems to accept the fact "As you wish Sapphire, but on your own head be it. You take the burden…" I do not hear the rest, as I skilfully tune him out to send my mind into Faro's, hunting for any sign of whatever makes him, well, him.

_Faro…? Faaaarro…?_

_Shh little sister, sleepy times now…_ Is the hazy, almost-drunk sounding answer.

_Faro!_

_No, I'm sleeping, go away._ There is the mental equivalent of Conor's shooing motion when I try to wake him up in the morning. Quickly followed by the telepathic version of rolling over and away.

I laugh as I open my eyes to break contact with Faro's dream-voice. _What is he dreaming about?_ I wonder as I do little stretches to try and encourage my body that it is allowed to move without shrieking obscenities at my pain receptors.

…

Waking up is… to put it lightly, _very_ nice. The first thing I see is Sapphire's large brown eyes, which are as shiny as the stars at night, a healthy glistening intelligence to them – a bit like a dolphin in that respect. She is sitting cross-legged on my left, her 'jeans' pressing smoothly against my side and she looks a thousand times better – not quite back to normal, but at least she's not blue.

She is casually and shamelessly stroking my hair back from my face, trailing her soft fingers across my cheeks, my jaw and my ear. I cannot stop watching the elegance of her movements, the fluidity of her joints – which I thankfully can no longer see every bone of. I also cannot stop listening to her, she is singing, and I am forced to wonder how it was the Mer who inspired the legends of sirens when her voice is so much more enchanting.

Her next song starts with 'la la la' style hums, but fast changes to lyrics.

"A-ahh a-ahh

Out of the bearded barley,

Nightly, beside the green, green grass,

Swing, swing,

Swing the spinning step,

You'll wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.

O-ohh

A-ahh a-ahh

Beneath the milky twilight,

Lead me out on the moonlit floor,

Lift your open hand,

Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance,

Silver moon sparkling.

So a-ahh a-ahh…

A-ahh a-ahh

Down by the broken tree house,

Swing me, upon its hanging tire,

Bring, bring,

Bring your flowered hat,

We'll take the trail marked on your father's map,

O-ohh

A-ahh a-ahh

Beneath the milky twilight,

Lead me, out on the moonlit floor,

Lift your open hand,

Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance,

Silver moon sparkling.

So a-ahh a-ahh…"

Back to the 'la la la' humming.

"A-ahh a-ahh

Beneath the milky twilight,

Lead me out on the moonlit floor,

Lift your open hand,

Strike up the band, and make the fireflies dance,

Silver moon sparkling…

So a-ahh a-ahh… So a-ahh a-ahh… So a-ahh a-ahh… So a-ahh a-ahh…"

"Sapphire…?" I ask slowly, not wanting to break whatever lovely trance-state we're both in.

"Yeah?"

"What were you singing?"

"Maybe I'll tell you someday…" she replies, smiling like a sunbeam "When you can speak full Sapphire." she giggles at that, more and more enthusiastically "See? See what I did there, like when you wouldn't tell me stuff until I could speak full-Mer?"

"Sapphire, are you all right?" _Cos you're giggling way too much, it's kind of disturbing._ I add silently, keeping it to myself.

Her expression sobers and her laughter abruptly stops "No, my head hurts, and I don't want to leave you."

"What do you mean?" I say, just as the answer floods my mind with anxiety. "Where are you going? You can't leave, you're hurt."

She grimaces for a split-second, covering it with a fake smile almost as soon as it appeared. "I'll be fine."

I nod, pushing myself into a sit so I can speak to her face "Yes, you will, but you're not fine yet. I don't want you to go till you're better."

She watches me sadly, through her eyelashes "I know, I don't want to go anywhere until my head stops… hurting." well, it's clear that's not as strong as the word she wanted to use.

"Sapphire, would it help if you were not talking? Or would speaking with your mind be worse?"

"I don't know…" she breaks off grasping her head and panting heavily "Fuuuuccccck…" she moans.

It hurts to see her in pain, just as much as if the pain were my own. Leaning towards her – and gasping myself at the agony of my injured waist – I reach around to put a hand on the back of her head. "Sapphire." I whisper, hoping keeping my voice low will prevent the ache from worsening – for both of us. "Elvira once taught me how to block pain, I might not be very good, but I'm going to try, okay?"

She nods jerkily, and I can see tears streaming away from her tight-shut eyes.

…

I don't know what Faro is doing, but oh God it feels good. It's not the same as when Elvira healed me, cos I know the injury/wound/whatever is still there, and still just as bad. Yet, what Faro is doing has a similar numbing effect, and it is _lovely._ Oh yes, I can still feel the pain, it just seems more… distant, like I can block it out, ignore it.

"Sapphire," Faro murmurs, taking his hand from my hair.

I open my eyes to look at him, breathing far more easily and evenly now "Thank you." I whisper, feeling that if I speak too loud, whatever Faro has done will undo itself "Oh Faro thank you, so, _so_ much." Tears continue to fall down my face and eventually merge with the water around us.

"You're welcome," his smile is small, sad "I'm so sorry I let this happen Sapphire…"

"I know Faro. It's why I have to leave, to fix things with Conor." I bite my lip, then add, raising my eyes to his startlingly green ones, like sunshine through leaves "Faro… Why didn't you just, well, tell me?"

…

I had forgotten blocking pain in others means taking some into yourself. I take a moment to commend Sapphire's bravery considering I want to cry at even the small portion of the headache I now have.

"Faro… Why didn't you just, well, tell me?" she asks, those big brown eyes seeming to grow larger with every moment I look at them, as if they will suck me into her brilliance. For a while I consider what that would be like, to be a part of her. I imagine it as warm and bright and musical inside her soul, a place full of softness and kindness and love.

Realising that I should answer the question, I give the simple reply "I didn't want to upset you."

She blinks, astonished "Why would it upset me?"

"Because he's your brother?"

She continues that adorable blinking thing, the skin of her cheeks shading redder than it should be "No! That's… that's not what I was talking about." I decide I like her embarrassed face, it humbles her radiant appearance into something you do not feel you would spoil by being near it.

"Then what?" I ask. What could she have possibly been referring to if not Conor?

She takes a deep breath then lets the words out in a rush that is almost too fast to understand "Whydidn't youtellme youhavefeelings forme?!" then adds, a little more clearly "That's why Conor did the thing, isn't it? To try and keep you away from me?"

_How does she know __**that**__?_ Ignoring my bemusement as to the source of her information, I hesitate before replying "Your brother was only trying to protect you from me."

Sapphy's frowns, narrowing those bright eyes "I don't need protecting." she pokes at my chest with a finger "Especially not from you." she gestures to our bracelets "I know you'd never let me come to… harm." she winces slightly before finishing "Without a good reason."

I just watch her, her sublimely sculpted face, the smooth angles and curves of her body, fitting together flawlessly. _How could I ever have risked the life of something so perfect, so beautiful inside and out?_ I hide the thought.

"But stop avoiding the question!" she suddenly exclaims, putting her face right up close to mine, so our foreheads are touching "Why didn't you ever tell me you _like_ me?!"

I pull away from her, bowing my head, finding an abrupt and all-consuming interest in my hands "You don't feel that way about me," I point out, "And I didn't want to risk losing your friendship." _Yeah, _a snide little voice mocks, _you only risked losing her life_.

"Did you… did you just… did you seriously just say…?" she bursts into bubbling laughter, rocking backwards into the free water in the centre of Saldowr's cave with the enthusiasm of her giggles. "Faro!" she cries happily, pushing her crimson tresses from her face "For someone who reads my mind almost daily, and claims to be able to see all my secrets— How did you miss the biggest one?!"

_Oh no, she's going to say that she has a whole legion of lovers already, or that she fancies girls, or that she has always had a 'crush' on Morlader – or something equally anguishing._

"Faro, Faro, Faro." she grins "Stop looking so scared, I'll show you what I meant." she swims back to me in about three strokes, floating just above my head so I have to look up at her.

…

I open my memories to him, every moment I can remember when he has been present, every thought of him when he wasn't, every glance I tried to hide, every fantasy. I let him see how I see him, hear how I think of him, feel what I feel for him. All my random, jumbled thoughts which I've tried to hide over the years, I set them free. All the longing and desire and friendship, and growing love which made even our firework friendship seem petty.

"Faro?" I say softly, opening my eyes to see we are trapped in a cocoon of our entwined hair "I forgive you, you were trying to make me happy, and you didn't really want me to be hurt, I know you wanted a reason to break Conor's spell-thing, but really you should've just told me – but now I'm glad you didn't cos if you had, none of this would have happened. Thanks for trying to keep me safe for so long, and for eventually giving in, cos it was real fun before hitting my head and nearly being eaten by a monster…" I halt my words "Um, I'm babbling, sorry, feel free to shut me up."

Faro grins "Why? I like listening to you babble."

I stare at him "Um, why?"

"Cos I like listening to you in general? And you sometimes say very interesting things without realising it."

"Faro…?" I bite my lip, afraid to ask.

_You don't ever have to be afraid to ask me anything Sapphire._ Is his incredibly heart-warming reply.

_Um, will you, um…_

_Yes?_ He prompts gently.

I let out my breath, realising I have been holding it. "Will you go out with me?"

"Go where?" he blinks at me, confused.

"Nowhere right now, I need to go home and get Conor to see sense about the exposing-Ingo thing. But… after that, I really wouldn't mind going on a date with you."

I turn away before he has a chance to answer, kicking off the rock wall and swimming to the entrance with all the speed I can muster. I pass Saldowr and nod at him as he sweeps past me to speak to Faro. As I swim towards the boundaries of the Grove, I feel very ill, and not just because distance from Faro is lessening his pain-blocking.

_Oh God, I forgot about the sharks…Why do I __**always **__forget about the sharks when I'm about to leave? Stop it, _I tell myself, _they are only patrols, they are not going to hurt you. Still, _I think, _it is funny that I cannot shake my fear of sharks. I fought the Kraken and wasn't all that frightened, but put me in front of a Great White and I nearly wet myself._

_Stay calm. Cool, calm and collected means they won't even care you're here, they'll just look at you, recognise you, then go on swimming. Stop shaking!_

I take a deep breath as I come up to them, I still my body, clenched fists the only outward sign of my inner trembles. "Let me pass, I am a friend of the Tide Knot and its Guardian." I command them, feeling that fire in my stomach that makes me want to be sick, but gives me courage also.

Those beady eyes pass over me, hanging on my left wrist for a little longer than the rest— Why did they care about my bracelet?

_Pass, Kowethes Moryow._

Crap, not again. Why does _everything_ have to call me that? Even the sand would be saying it next!

_Shush, _I tell myself, _go home before you black out._

…

"Saldowr, what just happened?" I ask, hunching over my bruised belly as I push off from the rock-shelf.

"From what little I heard, I believe you now have what humans call a 'girlfriend'."

_Why does that put such pride in me? More even than when he named me his scolhyk? Why does Sapphire's attention make me want to squirm with joy, while Saldowr's simply warrants a nod of respect?_

Saldowr regards me levelly "You once took such pride as my holyer, but I can forgive you for the change. It is more than clear that you love her, but the question remains, what are you both to do about it?

Heavily fortifying my mind, I think: _Way to spoil the moment_.


	8. Heartbreaks And Heartthrobs

**Sorry it took so long. But here are a list of reasons (I know, I know ****_excuses_****):**

**I really struggled with this one, had to work very hard just to get to the bit I had notes for. It might be cos I never liked Conor very much (he always kept the Saphro apart, and was in major denial all the time) or cos I'm wayyy too excited about what's coming up. **

**I got distracted by ideas for other fanfics, and was kinda working on a Night World one – check it out maybe? – called 'Cats and Cages'.**

**I was working on lots of artwork one of which is a drawing of Saph and Faro (the rest were all for my own stuff). I was thinking that I might use it as the poster for this story, instead of the frozen loveheart… but I can't decide.**

**Editing was a lot more tricky than normal as my laptop's dictionary/spellchecker has broken, saying that every single word is wrong – which is very distracting and means that I might not notice simple mistakes. But that should be being fixed in the next few days.**

**And I simply haven't been very well.**

**PS: Sorry, (I think) this one is real bad, but it needed to be here to get to the next part of the story (but that's how I felt about whenever Saph was at home in the original books, so maybe it's not that much of a change from the norm****…****)**

**PPS: Again, really sorry about Conor's bits, it's hard to do third-person present-tense, it doesn't work anywhere near as easily.**

**xxx GC**

* * *

"Where have you been?!" Conor hisses upon spotting me walking up the path. "You were supposed to set your watch!"

"I did." I reply crossly "It hasn't gone off yet."

"It was meant to go off hours ago, it's Monday afternoon!"

_What?!_ I look at my watch and see that he's right, it does say Mon, 3:15PM. "But… it didn't go off." _Shit, it probably went off while both Faro and I were unconscious. Bugger, bugger, bugger._

"Which, from you, translates as you _ignored_ it going off."

"No! I just didn't hear it."

He's looking at me funny as he asks "Saph? You okay?"

"Sure, why, why wouldn't I be?"

"Couple reasons, one you grimaced when you raised your voice, two, you have blood in your hair."

My eyes widen and my hand goes straight to the back of my head, where, surprise surprise, it comes away bloody. The amount of crimson liquid on my hand makes me feel sick, and reminds me again that _I should've died_.

_No, stop it, _I tell myself,_ don't think about that. Just be happy that you are alive and not in a coma forever._

_But am I? Am I awake? Or is this just a dream?_

_Stop!_

_I should be dead, even if Scylla didn't finish me off, she had worked me down to only one tiny piece, how am I better, who fixed me, Saldowr maybe? And how? How the__** hell **__did they bring me back from that place? How did they heal my mind, return all my memories, my feelings and just __**me**__ in general?_

_I said, stop!_

"Saph!" Conor reaches out to steady me, alerting me to the fact that I had been about to fall. "Saph, what happened to you down _there_?" his voice is full of concern until he has to reference Ingo whereupon it turns hard as rocks.

Jeez how did I _never_ notice the sheer animosity he has for it? "I, um," _please don't make me go into it_ "hit my head."

"What the hell were you doing to hit your head?"

"Current surfing, with Faro."

Conor's eyes begin to burn like fire, anger swirling in their brown depths "Current surfing, with Faro." he repeats – I didn't know you could put that much venom into anything without being a snake. And straight back to normal Conor, "Well, you can't exactly say _that_ to a doctor, so go clean up before Mum sees you. And if she asks, you were with Rainbow for the morning, Rain always knows to say yes when you're missing. Now _go_."

And as I do, Faro's pain-blocker thingamajig completely vanishes, leaving me to hobble and gasp my way to the bathroom for a shower.

…

_Well, you knew it would happen one day, you made plans for the eventuality and inevitability of your__…__ spell taking effect._

_But still, _replies a little voice in his head,_ it's okay for it to hurt to know that your onetime friend has betrayed you, and that Saph has been allowed to be hurt. Because it's obvious, Saph had been injured because Faro endangered her, __**Ingo**__ endangered her._

_Ingo has to be stopped, _Conor decides,_ it is too dangerous and I cannot allow any more people to be hurt by it. It is time to end it._

So, that is how, with a deep breath, he goes calmly to the phone, and makes the call.

…

It is actually terrifying as I stand in the shower and witness the water turn red. I might not mind if it was only a little, but the depth of colour and the length of time it takes for it to become clear… well, it's a little unnerving.

_Still, _I think as I gently rub shampoo over myself,_ it could be a lot worse. I am conscious – I hope – and despite my head bitching at me, I am able to move unaided and seem mostly fine. Mum will never have to know, but Saldowr however, has a __**very**__ long talk waiting for him when I go back._

I am very gentle as I comb my hair through, but that does not mean that I am silent, quite the opposite. The softest touch in the world would be like an elephant on my head at the moment, and the pain is rocketing through me, bringing a lot of very colourful expletives along for the ride.

"SAPPHIRE!" Mum yells from downstairs, I don't need to guess as to the reason, I can smell a revolting odour that once would've enticed me – it's teatime.

"Coming!" I call, as quietly as I can whilst still hoping to be heard, but my efforts are proved to be meaningless when the nuclear agony in my head renders me motionless, reducing me to a gasping, sobbing child as I roll on the floor, begging it to stop.

"Sapphire?" Mum murmurs from the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Oumhhhm…" is my incredibly agonised reply, I take a breath, forcing myself to sit up, and try again "No…" but my voice is still a moan.

Mum comes to my side, crouching to put her hands on my cheeks, looking directly into my face "What's wrong honey?"

_Well, I can tell her a bit of the truth, I guess…_ "My head hurts, I banged it earlier and it's been… _painful_ ever since." I hope that Mum can tell that I'm only using that emphasis so as not to swear in front of her.

My mother's eyes widen as she has a sharp intake of breath, ready to launch into one of her legendary lectures, no doubt "Sapphy!" she exclaims quietly "Why didn't you tell me?! You could have a concussion! I can probably check you over, but we should get you to a real doctor, but oh they won't be open this late, and it would take forever to get you to A&E…"

"Mum, I'll be fine." I whisper back, "Just don't make me listen to any bass music for a while."

Her eyes harden in that clinical determination to help a patient, typical of a nurse I guess, even a trainee "I'm serious Sapphire. How long ago did it happen, where were you, do you remember?"

"I don't know, a few hours maybe? I was—" I cut off, realising what I am about to say, then frantically inventing another reason "messing about with Rainbow, and fell down the stairs of her house."

"Oh my God!" Mum cries, causing me to wince at the volume to my already sensitised brain. "How could you be so _stupid_ to play around near staircases?"

"I know Mum, I feel bad enough, can you please not yell?"

"Oh, my baby!" she whispers, pulling me close in a gentle hug "I'll find some ice for your head after dinner, then you're to go right to sleep, you hear me?"

"Yes Mum…" I mumble as she helps me stand up.

"Now Sapphy-darling, where's it hurt?"

"Everywhere."

"No, I meant, the point of, well, impact."

I point to the back of my head, the area which Mum coincidentally has covered by a hair-claw holding her shiny curls like a vice.

"Oh my little baby!" Mum holds me close again, seeming to forget to be gentle this time.

"Ow, Mum ow!" I whimper, breaking away as she tries to place a hand on my hair.

"Well, you can't be that hurt if you can still talk to me about it, I suppose, but I still think you should see the doctor first thing tomorrow. Of course, I know what to do about concussions, but I'm not trained for diagnosing patients, just giving general care afterwards."

"Mum!" I whisper urgently as my stomach grumbles a little "Food, remember?"

"Oh, yes. Come on Sapphy, lean on me."

I obey, clinging to my mother as I put on a brave face and do my best not to fall down the stairs.

"Jennie?" Roger asks, rising from his seat to pull out a chair for me, I smile at him a little in appreciation. Then, addressing me as Mum helps me sit "Something wrong Sapphire?"

Mum answered for me "I think she has a concussion, fell down the stairs at Rainbow's house and hit the back of her head."

Roger's eyes widen, but at a glare from Mum, says nothing. I nearly cheer at the show of Mum-awesomeness.

"Conor, get off the phone, and have your dinner, it's gettin' cold.."

Con ignors Roger's comment, covering his ear with a hand and turning his back to us.

Mum simply smiles at her son's behaviour "He'll come when he's finished whispering sweet nothings to Rainbow."

From what I can hear of his conversation, it is not Rainbow he is talking to… _Note to self, must interrogate him about that later – who was he talking to?!_

"Sapphy, once you've had something to eat I'll find some painkillers for you, and you're going to the doctor first thing tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah Mum." I answer as I stare at my plate, unsure of what I'm supposed to do with the food, because the idea of _eating _seems totally implausible. But the disapproving and worried look on my mother's face does a lot for that – she always could make me suck it up and just get on with things I didn't like. So, now that I am shovelling tasteless mush into my mouth, she sighs and relaxes a little.

"Good girl Sapphy, you really do need to eat more."

However, by the time I've half-emptied the plate, her praise becomes meaningless, I _can't _eat any more. I don't realise what is happening until after I lift my head from the sink, my mouth tasting awful, and my body shaking like mad.

"Sapphy!" Mum shrieks, whizzing to my side and stroking my hair back from my face "Oh my little baby."

"Mum?" I ask tentatively, completely avoiding the sight of the sink "Could… could I miss out on the rest of dinner maybe?"

Mum sighs "Fine, it's probably not a good idea for you to eat if you're just going to be sick, but it does mean you can't have any painkillers."

"Okay Mum…" and with that, I trudge back up the stairs, and carefully collapse onto my bed. I don't get changed or even rinse my mouth out, they would be too much effort.

_I am being crushed. Crushed to death. Crushed like a bug. Crushed till I am a tiny, squashed thing. I cannot breathe._

_I am being crushed till I am microscopic, an atom, a molecule, or a particle._

_Something huge is doing this to me. Perhaps I am being stampeded by horses_…_ and cows, and elephants_…_ and hippos too. Or maybe I am being flattened by whales crowding me in, compressing my existence to a tiny spark. Yet, I hear a loud, blaring noise that my mind refuses to translate, a train maybe? Cars, buses, trucks, so many huge things to decimate creatures so small…_

_My bones are breaking, limbs snapping, ribs collaspsing and spine disintigrating as the strength is sucked out of them. _

_My body is on fire, but I am drowning. I am being pulled apart, but squashed into a whisper. I am imploding and exploding._

_Everything hurts._

"_Tasssty Sssapphire…"_

I wake up silently save for my gasps. I have never screamed when waking up from a nightmare, with such a small house it would wake everyone – and I could never endure all that attention even from my own family.

It is dark in my bedroom, but that does not frighten me, the silence does, as does the lack of Sadie's warmth against my leg. As I sit still and calm my breathing, I cannot even hear the call of the sea, or the whisper of the wind through leaves. Silence is one thing that has always scared me, complete noiselessness is just not natural…

I stand up and go to the window, straining to hear any sort of sound. The night remains silent under the serene gaze of a full moon. The air is icy when I open the window, but I need the fresh air to clear the remnants of the nightmare from my mind, the voice of Scylla is… unpleasant.

An owl I know all-too-well sits on the rowan tree's branches, blinking slowly and intelligently. "Hello Sa_pphire_." Granny Carne's familiar (as I think of it) says in that echoingly powerful way.

"What do you want?" I answer, perhaps a little more harshly than is polite, but a constant migraine does that – believe me, it does.

"Ingo is invading your dreams, I have come to balance you, and return you to sleep, or else you shall not heal."

"I'm fine!" I snap at the creepy bird-thing.

"You were on the brink of death, Sap_phire_, even your unusual mixture of abilites could not have saved you."

"Just say whatever you're trying to say." I growl at those disturbing amber eyes.

"All the Elements worked to save you, but you are still damaged Sa_pphire_. Your brother's Earth magic, your Mer… friend, and each of them's Air blood all helped, but the Fire in your blood still needs to burn out the infection."

"I don't understand."

"You will soon Sa_pphire_, now, return to a dreamless sleep."

"Why… Why do you…" I yawn, everything feeling heavy as I start to push the window closed "Why are you… saying my… my name like that?"

"You will find out soon enough, sleep now little gem."

I fall into an uneventful slumber, just as she predicted.

I wake up in – of all places – the back Mum's car. "Mum?" I mumble, staring blearily around as I try to figure out what is going on.

"You were completely out of it Sapphy," she replies worriedly "I couldn't wake you beyond sleepy muttering, so we're going to the doctor right now. Roger carried you out, and don't panic, I'm 99% sure that you're going to be fine, but I want to get that little bit of Mum-doubt out of the way – okay?"

_What?_ Instead of giving her an intelligent answer, I just murmur unintelligible nonsense and put my head back down. _Must speak to Conor alone, _I think to myself, determined to keep my mind active – or else it might stop working. _Must yell at Conor about Faro, and find out why he was acting weird on the phone to Rainbow. Must yell at Saldowr. Must see Faro. Mustn't fall asleep… must not fall… asleep…_

"Sapphy! Come on darling, wakey-wakey."

"Mum I'm not four…" but my words are completely ununderstandable, even to me. I also fall back into sleep on her shoulder as soon as we reach the waiting room.

I'm not really awake enough through the examination to repeat what was said by anyone, but the gist of it is that they send me to get an x-ray straight away. From what I was alert enough to notice, the x-ray was kinda cool, all red beams and big machines – but a very Air thing though (as Faro would say).

The diagnosis is that they're not actually sure what's wrong with me, but that they're sure there is no damage to my brain – joy, I'm not gonna become a vegetable, but the real doctors haven't got a f—

"Sapphy!" Mum calls frantically into my face "Come on honey, let's get you home and into bed so you can rest properly."

I respond with something I hope sounds like "Good idea Mum." but know probably doesn't.

_My blood is fleeing my body. My blood does not want to belong inside of me, so is flowing steadily and gratefully away. I cannot open my eyes to watch it, but feel sure that if I could, the red essence of my life would be twirling gaily, as if truly happy to be free._

_It is only as the wound draws away my heat and strength that I begin to feel the pain of it. The pain is immense, an intense, focussed, driven agony. It does not take me long to realise that I have been stabbed by something, stabbed, or slashed, or…or bitten. _

_I cannot think why the idea of being gnawed on is so much more horrific to me. Surely the fact that anyone has so mortally injured me is bad enough that it could not be subject to gradation, but still, I cannot stand the thought that something has been… __**eating**__ me._

"_That isss a ssshame, becausesss you are sssimply deliciousss Sssapphire."_

I wake to find my mother trying to force-feed me something that seems it should be rice pudding, but tastes absolutely repulsive to me. I mourn that fact silently, and try to eat it despite it tasting like mud that has been mashed in with rancid eggs and… bad prawns.

"It's Wednesday morning sweetie, we let you sleep through Tuesday, doctor's orders. But no-one can stay home to keep an eye on you today, so we've asked Rainbow to come, I hope that's all right with you."

"Yeah…" I mumble and Mum smiles.

"Good to hear you're clear today."

"Yippee." I answer sarcastically, then add "Am I allowed painkillers now?"

"Only if you eat some more of this."

I moan "Do I have to? It tastes disgusting."

Mum sighs "I imagine that despite your brain having no signs of damage, that your food preferences may have changed, it happens sometimes when people hit their heads. Remember that man from the car programme Conor likes? He was in an accident and liked _celery_ afterward… poor man." The front door buzzes, and before I can erase my mother's ignorance, she leaves to answer it, quickly saying "That'll probably be Rainbow,"

"SADIE!" I hear a familiar voice squeal happily from downstair, followed by a lot of joyful barks, that dog always had loved Rainbow – they were both Earth creatures… unlike me.

Sadie comes crashing into my room, leaping onto the bed and licking my face like she did when she was just a puppy. Rainbow is close behind her, grinning as she copies Sadie in flopping onto the end of my bed.

"How's my favourite invalid?"

"When did Con become bedbound?"

"I meant _you_, dummy!" she shakes her head, smirking as Mum comes back up to inform us of her departure. We both say goodbye then Rainbow hisses "Seriously Saph, you were fine at my house."

I whisper "What are you talking about?"

She copies the quiet tone "That's what Con says you told your Mum, that you fell down my stairs."

We hear Mum's car revving and the swing of the gate.

"Yeah, it was what came to mind when he said I was with you."

Rainbow frowns "I guessed that, but what were you _really_ doing?"

"Umm…"

"C'mon Sapphy, you can tell me anything, you're my best friend!"

"I, I, I think I have a boyfriend."

Rainbow's face lights up as she gives a very doggy wiggle of joy "YES!" she shouts, punching the air "About time! You've had a growing I'm-in-love look ever since I met you."

"Have not!" I yell back, sitting up only for her to push me down again.

"Have too." then she says more seriously "And I have orders not to let you outta bed till at least lunchtime unless you're gonna pee yourself." back to teasing and smiles "So… Did he finally eat his chicken and cluck up the courage to ask you out – or what? Cos, I swear you said 'think'."

I smile at her joke, but my reply is still "Umm…"

"Stop umming!"

"_I _kinda asked _him_ out." I mumble the words a little, but from nervousness, not pain.

"How very modern of you Sapphy. Conor asked me…"

_Yes Rain, I know, I was there. _I remember it well cos it was on the one-year anniversary of Elvira leaving, and Faro was having a major pity-party so I'd had to stay in the Air…_ Wait, _Con asked Rain out on the exact date of Elvira leaving._ Is there a reason for that – or just coincidence? Did my brother even like Rainbow like that?_

"But still, you only _think_ you have a boyfriend?" Rain pats Sadie's golden head that waggles as she follows the conversation. "Good girl Sadie…" she murmurs to the clever canine.

"Yeah, I asked him two or three days ago, just after I hit my head."

"Wait a minute, he was with you?!"

"Yes…"

"He better not have been the one to hurt you, that's abuse!"

I lie there for a moment, stunned into silence "No Rainbow, Faro wouldn't hurt me…"

"So, nobody I know either, shame on you Sapphire, keeping this to yourself!"

Oh… oh dear, I just told her about Faro… Oh, oh _fudge_… The Mer are gonnna kill me— _No. Calm down Saph, all you said was his name, there are probably hundreds of people in the world called Faro…_

"Well… um."

Rainbow's eyes widen, and Sadie whines in surprise at Rain leaping off the bed. "It was him, wasn't it, that you went off with a few years ago? When you wouldn't tell me why you both left… You and Con ran off without telling anyone the truth, you were with… Faro, then, weren't you?"

"Yeah… but Rainbow, I swear, he never hurt me, he brought me home and looked after me. He's _always_ looked after me."

Rainbow relaxes "Okay then, but if he ever lays a hand on you, he'll be taking on me and Sadie. Won't he girl? We can take care of the big bad boy, can't we?" she coos at my golden lab who barks affirmatively "See? Sadie's gonna bite him if he ever hurts you." Rain grins and returns her attention to me, only frowning as I sit up "So, what happened when you put the first of the big questions to him?"

"Umm… Well, I was kinda stammering, but he was so nice about it, being really gentle about prompting me and all that, and when I could finally say it… I dunno, he was confused, but… I don't know! I had to get home, so I went right after that, I was already feeling awful by then and I was worried if I didn't I would faint before getting here."

"Whoa, Sapphy, slow down. You haven't seen him since, have you?"

"Well, no, I've been fainting and being sick for however long it's been."

"And you haven't called him?"

"Nuh-uh." _It's kinda impossible unless I go in person._ "If you think the reception here is bad, you should try where he lives." _Cos there aren't any phones!_

"Well then," she giggles "as soon as you're better, you better get your butt over to see him and find out his answer."

"I wish you could go with me…" I say wistfully, regretting it instantly – _What if she tells me she will?!_

"No." _Phew…_ "You gotta go on your own."

"I'm scared he'll say no."

"You gotta take that risk honey, a great man once asked 'What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love.' So you gotta take chances if you like him that much."

I laugh "That's real deep Rainbow." _And I've __**been**__ there_.

She shakes her head "Nope, actually it's Depp."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, I was looking up quotes about love, and it just stood out."

I narrow my eyes at her, thinking "So… Which did you think fit you and Conor?"

"Umm… There are two, but you better promise not to laugh?"

"Cross my heart."

"The first one, I think just works for everyone, but I did say it to him once. 'At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet' cos he wrote me a poem once." _I've written loads about Faro, _I think to myself,_ most while not even trying_ "But I can't remember who said that. The other is like something Granny Carne told me once actually, and it goes something like this 'Love is friendship on fire. It starts a small flame, hot and fierce, but still flickering. As love grows older, we mature and our love becomes coals, deep-burning and unquenchable' and the real version was Bruce Lee."

I sit there, wide-eyed "Wow, can I steal that one about poets?"

Rain grins "Sure… Wait… D'you mean he wrote you a poem?"

I shrug "Dunno, but I've written loads about him."

"Aww, how cute! You gotta tell me one now!"

I roll my eyes "Not until I've at least had some water, I'm dying here."

Rainbow bounds away to get me a glass of much-needed water, as I filter through my brain, deciding which poem to tell her. She arrives back with a cupful of water and two ice cubes. I drink some and smile at the fact it stays down and feels like it will remain that way.

"Okay, this one is called 'Entwined' and you had better not tell anyone."

"Croz me e'art an' hopa to di'!" she trills back, in an accent I cannot identify, but is funny nonetheless.

"Okay, here goes nothing:

Ever together,

This knot will not sever,

We'll break friends never,

I'll be yours forever.

We took our hair,

And wove it in bands,

We wear them on our wrists,

Like wedding rings on our hands.

Eyes of green, eyes of brown,

Hair like waves, cascading down,

Matching skin, in tone and hue,

What god made me to match with you?"

Rainbow stares at me for a moment as I gulp down the rest of the icy water. "You've been wearing that bracelet pretty much ever since I met you…"

"So?"

"Then that means you've known Faro longer than me?"

"Umm… yes?"

"And you've never thought to mention him until today?"

"Umm… sorry?"

"Stop umming! Does this mean that every time you and/or Conor disappeared and pretended to be with me, that you were with Faro?"

"Yes." There's no point in trying to hide it any longer – the only fact that needs to be kept from her is excatly what Faro is and where we go with him.

"Saph," Rainbow's face is like the darkening of the sky before a storm "What else have you been hiding from me?" and her voice turns to thunder "And what the hell else is Conor doing_ behind my back_?"

"No! No, Rain, he'd nev—"

Rainbow stomps to the door "Save it Sapphire, you're gonna have to look after yourself today, or get darling Faro to look after you, cos I'm not staying a minute longer." she clenches her fists "And tell your brother it's over."

And she's gone, leaving Sadie and I staring sadly after her.

"What do we do now Sadie-girl?"

…

The call from Rainbow had come just before a Further Mathematics lecture, despite it being advise for revision before his final exam – Conor could not defy the call of his girlfriend. Even though his anger and betrayal and confusion over Elvira still lingered, he adored Rainbow with a passion he doubted any _fish_ could feel, let alone cause.

"You bastard! How_ dare_ you cheat on me!" came her furious voice over the speaker.

For a moment Conor was stunned into silence, then curiosity took over, along with defensiveness "Rainbow, what are you talking about?"

"You being a lying, sneaking, cheating jerk! You and your sister going off behind everyone's backs! HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON ME!"

And on that terrifying yell, she hangs up, leaving Conor to wander into the lecture room in the complete wrong mood for it. He sat through the hour without taking in anything of use, only the rememberence of her voice – full of passionate rage, she honestly believed what she had accused him of.

But where had she gotten the idea? He'd never had a real girlfriend before her, and had never considered having another if their relationship should ever end, and especially not during! So what the _hell_ was going on?

His phone beeps as he leaves college for the day, still sombre and void in both his head and heart. He observed the screen with a blankness that had even strangers come over and ask if he was all right – to which he lied that he was. The text is from Sapphire, and reads simply:

'Sorry, Rainbow found out'.

Found out what? What secret of his or Sapphire's could make Rain think the he was cheating on her? He'd never even got close to any other girl than his sister, Rain and… Elvira.

Sapphire had somehow told Rainbow about Elvira. And if she'd admitted that, what else did Rainbow now know?

…

Waiting sucks. But it's even worse when you're waiting to interrogate someone you know to be utterly devastated. So, when I finally hear Conor open the front door, and make my way into the kitchen to meet him, I am not in the best of moods.

"Why did you do that to Faro?" I demand, even upon seeing the pain on my brother's face.

"Saph, I can't do this now." he answers wearily, dumping his backpack on the table.

"I have concussion and haven't eaten in three days! We _are_ doing this right now!" It still hurts to shout, so I keep my voice low, but the rage – I hope – is still clear enough for him.

"What the _hell_ did you tell Rainbow?! What could you have _possibly_ said to make her think that about me?!"

"She found out about Faro—"

"WHAT?!"

"—and pieced together that you must've been off seeing someone else while I was with him."

"As in, found out, found out about Faro?"

"No! She's not seen him if that's what you mean. She only knows that he's the friend she's been covering up my meetings with."

"Well, thank God for that!" Conor says sarcastically "We couldn't have the Mer discovered, it would be _so_ terrible!"

"CONOR!" I yell, ignoring the pain that spikes through the back of my skull "Get it into your stupid brain! Revealing the Mer does not solve anything! You always tell me not to run from my problems, well take your own advice! Ignore Ingo if you want, but leave the Mer and Faro alone!"

"Leave you in peace so you can become Mer safely?" he asks snidely and I give in to my urge to shake him.

"Get! It! In! Your! Head! I am not going to become Mer!" I give him a rattle to accompany each word.

"Not even to escape college, and Uni and jobs and all those horrific _human_ things?"

"N-no! I wouldn't leave everything I love in the Air just to get away from that." I say resolutely, trying to make myself believe it. "I couldn't do that to Mum."

"Then what courses are you going to take? At what college?"

"I don't know! I can't pick one because I can't _do_ anything!"

My brother's face softens "You can do lots of things Saph, but what you're not gonna do is run away from your problems here."

I reply in kind "And what _you're_ not gonna do, is reveal Ingo or the Mer, but what you _are_ gonna do, is leave Faro alone."

…

And with that, Saph marches to the door, pulling on Sadie's lead gently.

"Where are you going?" Conor asks stupidly.

"Taking Sadie for a walk, she hasn't had a proper one in days. Don't you dare stop me, or I won't help about Rainbow and Elvira."

Conor closes the door behind his sister and collapses onto the sofa, sighing as he rubs his face. He thinks over all that has transpired between him and Saph, coming to a single conclusion for all of it: the bit about her trying for college, him not endangering Ingo, her helping with Rainbow.

All of it had the same answer.

_Too little Saph, too late_.

* * *

**Again, really sorry about how long this one took, and feel free to criticise this as much as you want - or compliment if you really think any of it is worthy.**

**Love reviewers, you make it worth getting up in the morning... or afternoon... or evening. Or whenever. You make my day. :)**


	9. Awakening

**I had a goal with this chapter: to answer as many questions that HD did not answer, as possible without straying from the topic. **

**Yes, I do realise I've also turned it into a bit of a musical – but they're both supposed to have great voices, and I wanted to explore why the Mer don't sing more often.**

**The song I had Scylla mock is 'Not While I'm Around' from the musical version of Sweeney Todd (originally I had Faro singing the real version as a dream style of defence against her, but I wanted to be a bit more imaginative than that – while still using that song, cos it was in my head for days).**

**Faro's lullaby is 'Lullaby of the Sea' by David Lundie (In Mer/Cornish with some words changed to make it rhyme) – I'm pretty sure I translated it right, but some of the grammer in Cornish/Mer might be wrong (despite spending ****_hours_**** on it).**

**Sapphire sings 'Here Beside Me' by Hayley Westenra – corrupted a little as I wanted it shown how it sounds, not as the real lyrics. But do check out this song, I just hope I convey even a little of how moving it is.**

* * *

_I can't move, something is trapping me. There are bonds around my waist and chest which I cannot break. I struggle, but the weight of my captor holds me still._

_A quiet voice from behind me murmurs "I've got you Sapphire." and I begin to panic, the last time I was in the dark, couldn't move, and heard voices, it was the voice of a monster that was eating me._

_I fight against what holds me, kicking and thrashing my arms, only for my chest to be crushed tighter, bringing a scream that cannot be heard. I continue to yell and lash my limbs, if at least to inconvenience whatever has hold of me. I am __**not**__ going to go through this again. Not if I have anything to say about it._

"_But you don't my Sssapphire. You have no sssay in thisss at all." croons the voice I really, really don't want to hear._

_No. __**No**__. I am __**not**__ doing this again._

"_Yesss you are," Scylla sings, pulling at my arms like some sick game of tug-of-war where I am the rope "Yummy little girl, I've missssed you."_

_No._

"_Yesss."_

_I think I'm doing the silent equivalent of hyperventilating as I hope frantically that Faro can save me, like he did last time. Just got to wait it out until Faro… "I've got you Sapphire!"_

"_Sssilly little Sssapphire. Fish-boy won't sssave you."_

_As I try to stop myself dying of complete and utter dread, Scylla begins to sing with that horrifically beautiful voice, and I cannot block it out. _

"_Nothin'sss gonna sssave you,_

_Not while I'm around,_

_There will be no rescuess – you're mine!_

_Not while I'm around._

_Heroesss are trying everything,_

_Nowadaysss,_

_I'll sssend 'em crying,_

_I don't care,_

_I got waysss._

_No-one'sss gonna take you,_

_No-one'sss gonna dare,_

_'Sssavioursss' will not sssteal you,_

_I've no worry,_

_Sssapphire, I'll be there._

_Demonsss will devour you with a sssmile,_

_For a while,_

_But you are mine!_

_No-one elsess can have you,_

_Not while I'm around."_

_Not listening. Not listening. Not listening. If I repeat the thought enough, surely I won't hear her lyrical voice that puts the deepest cold imaginable into my heart?_

"_Eating out or eatin' fancy,_

_Ain't like eating you,_

_I won't need to,_

_I will never,_

_Releasess my hold on you,_

_Like sssome…"_

_Even as my fear reaches stupid levels that have me barely able to understand her words, Scylla begins to laugh, that cackling guffaw that is so repellant and terrifying._

"_Little Mer-boy not gonna sssave you. He let you die. Faro doesssn't love Sssapphire."_

_Shut up._

"_No Sssapphire. You cannot essscape me."_

_I can try. I kick away from her, evading her groping tentacles with a twist in the icy water surrounding us._

"_There isss nowhere to ssswim to Sssapphire! There isss nowhere I cannot find you!"_

_I flee home, swimming as fast as my legs can carry me when filled with pure get-the-fuck-away-she's-gonna-kill-me. I leap onto the sand of the cove's beach, clambering up the slippery rocks in the dark is difficult, but not impossible when the other option is death by sea-monster._

_I make it up to stand on the overlooking cliff with a sigh of relief, she cannot get me here._

"_Oh no? I am not bound to the water Sssapphire." Scylla calls from the water below, causing it to swirl crazily like a… like a whirlpool. "Charybdisss was my doing! I have power over all the ssseass!"_

_No, no, no, no, no, no. My mind scrambles frantically for something, anything I can do to get away from her, or at least halt her. But I have no weapons, not even a pen-knife, and even if I did, I couldn't use it on her because she has no body. No, I __**cannot**__ let her hurt anyone else. This ends __**now**__, with me. I must stop her._

_But I can't._

"_Nothing can ssstop me! I will get you Sssapphire! I am coming for you tassty girl."_

_Pain rockets through me as her cold touch radiates across my skin from the back of my head. I fill with fury and fear, striking out at her, only to fall into cold, hard rock and soil, entombed._

"_I've got you Sapphire…" the quiet voice whispers into my cold, pained despair, and I let it lead me away._

"'I've got you Sapphire'?" I say aloud, it is all I want to remember of my dream. Whatever was holding me to start with… was protecting me? Scylla pulled me away from it, and I let her, thinking the first thing was her too.

Oh this is all so confusing. _Ignore it, _I tell myself,_ get up, get dressed, have breakfast, cos you're starving, and have a shower cos you've been wearing the same clothes for ages_.

And I do, I do all the mundane, everyday things, while thinking only one thought of what to do later: _Go see Faro_. I am all alone in the house, even Sadie isn't here, so that must mean Mum gave her to someone else to look after for the day. _Well, at least Sadie won't pine for me…_

As I get changed into my bikini I realise something, nothing hurts. Yeah, sure the back of my head aches a bit, but nothing actually screams obscenities at me when I move to plait my hair. _I'm better,_ I think determinedly as I walk towards the cove's entrance, _it was just a dream, and I'm completely fine_.

…

"Faro!" Sapphire cries happily from the top of the sandy beach upon spotting me floating in the shallows. She runs towards the water, sand spraying everywhere in golden showers whenever her feet touch the floor.

"Hello Sapphire." I murmur, pulling myself up onto our rock just as she scuttles over to meet me.

Her eyes are shimmeringly beautiful as she smiles at me, warm brown against the gold of her skin. "I missed you." she says seriously, locking her eyes on mine.

I nod, "I've waited for you ever since you left, Saldowr said you wouldn't be back for weeks, but he hasn't got a clue where you're concerned."

Sapphire blinks slowly "Did… did I just hear that right?" she asks "Did I just hear you bad-mouth Saldowr? _Again_?"

"Yes." I answer her gravely "My teacher may be the Guardian of the Tide Knot and the Protector of Ingo, but he knows next to nothing about you. I knew you'd come back as soon as possible," I smile "you cannot resist the pull of the sea."

Sapphire shakes her head, causing a few waves of maroon hair to escape her 'hair-bobble' "Actually, it was you I came to see," _To quote Sapphire when she's excited – yayayayay!_ "I wanted to tell you that I spoke to Conor, and calmed him down – by threatening to otherwise not to help with his girlfriend troubles." _phew…_ "And, umm, that I think I had a dream about you last night."

_What? Did she just say what I thought she said…_ "You _think_ you had a dream about me?" is the question that comes out of my stupid mouth.

"Yes, _think_, because I'm not sure." she rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out at me.

"Well, I _definitely_ had a dream about you."

She puts her elbows on her legs, watching me intently with a small smile "Do tell."

_Oh, umm… Well, might as well just get it over with…_

…

Faro looks uncomfortable, but he answers me anyway "I don't really remember much, except that something was trying to take you away from me."

My heart does a little somersault, trying to copy Faro's endless spins. I bite my lip, not trusting anything I say to sound normal while my heart is doing acrobatics in my chest._ Yayayayay!_

"I'm sorry I let that happen to you Sapphire…" Faro is looking at me through his lashes, ashamedly.

"I already forgave you." I whisper, trying to stop the squeak of my voice from being too obvious.

Faro's lips twitch into a small, pitiful smile "_I _haven't forgiven me. I'm supposed to look after you, and I let you get hurt."

_He thinks he's supposed to look after me… _"Faro… You saved me, you've _always_ saved me." I search my memory, thinking of all the times he's protected me, and show them to him.

_Remember Faro? You pulled me out of rogue currents, you tried to follow me into the Deep, you stopped that Claw Creature from getting me, you rescued me during the flood in St Pirans, you helped us fight the Kraken, you saved me from that bear in the North, and sharks…_

My list goes on and on, and his smile grows along with it, until he's outright laughing at the babbling of my mind.

"What's so funny?!" I demand, pouting.

Faro is still shaking with his chuckles when he answers me, "It's just…" he sobers "You're so loving, even when others don't deserve it. It just reminded me of something Saldowr said about you once."

"What? _Why_? Why was Saldowr talking about me?"

"I wasn't anything bad Sapphire." he says, glancing worriedly at my probably-murderous expression as it calms, appeased "And I don't know why, we just somehow got onto the topic of you. He said you epitomised a human philosopher's words that he knew 'A part of kindness is loving people more than they deserve' and I think it sums you up brilliantly."

"Oh…" I answer with a blush. I had actually spotted that quote yesterday after Rainbow left – I'd been inspired by her idea and wanted to find a few for Faro – and I _had_ found one to reply with. "I heard something the other day which made me think of you actually…"

Faro stares at me, surprised. "Really? One of your human thinkers was able to summarise _me_?"

"Yes." I hmph at him, then grin "'Love is someone who tells you something new about yourself' and you taught me so much about myself Faro…" There was another quote that I'd thought was even more perfect, but there was no way I'd ever say it to his face, it was more of a girl-gossip thing to whisper to Rainbow in an alternate dimension where she knew about the Mer… "Anyway, I was gonna tell you about _my_ dream."

"Yes, yes you were." Faro is still smiling goofily at me, just as I am him.

…

It is just not normal for anything to be that beautiful. I'd glimpsed it several times: when the sunlight caught her hair just right, or when her eyes lit up astride a dolphin, or when she was resting peacefully on the seabed. _So, if I've seen it so many times, why does it always catch me unawares, and send my heart crashing against my chest, as if it is trying to escape? Why do I always want to stroke her hair, and hold her tight and sing to her – and show her how much I __**need**__ her?_

It takes all of my willpower to not let my lips or mind shape the words I think so often. I cannot say them so soon, she wouldn't want me to, she loves being in the Air. _No, _I tell myself for the millionth time,_ I cannot be so selfish as to lure her away from her home. I will __**not **__make her so miserable_.

"I guess it must've been you in my dream, because it started with something holding me, here," she gestured across her chest, above her breasts, then to her abdomen "and here."

I stare briefly at her, more than a little disturbed by her description – yes, of course I knew that the Mer could on occasion share dreams, but it had never happened to me before, and it was more than a little bizarre to hear her describe things I'd experienced whilst _asleep_.

"It must've been you, cos um," Sapphire shudders, grabbing my hand and crushing it as she closes her eyes tightly "_she_ was pulling me away and you wouldn't let go. I didn't recognise it was you until the end of the dream, when you said—" she broke off on a gasp as she dissolves into endless trembling.

Sapphire had turned pale when she began shaking, and the energy and life had drained out of her in moments. Her eyes now had the empty quality they'd had when I'd first brought her back. I couldn't let her have dreams of whatever she had experienced then, not if the mere thought of it made her so ill… I could not _allow_ her to be haunted like this.

I pull her to me, giving in to my desire to stroke her hair, and murmuring "I've got you Sapphire, you're safe."

"Th-th-that's w-w-w-what you said in m-m-my d-dream." she shivers, her skin is icy against mine and she is leaning on me heavily, as if exhausted.

"I know." I inform her, as it's true, I remember saying those exact words when I found her trapped by boulders and shadows, a tiny star of light amidst the darkness swallowing her body. "And I mean it, I'm not ever letting anything happen to you again."

Her trembles fade slowly as she relaxes into my arms, and the feeling of it is perfect, I never want to let go.

…

_Faro? What is it? Something's troubling you._

His thoughts are light as they flow into my drowsy mind. _It's nothing Sapphire, go to sleep if you want._

_No, you need to get back in the water soon, your tail will dry out._

_I can last a lot longer than any other of the Mer Sapphire… _

And I know why, but I don't say anything, do not even think it, as I know it is a distressing topic for him. _Faro, go on, tell me what's troubling you._

_It's not troubling me Sapphy, it's… puzzling me._

_Well, what __**is**__ it?_

_The rock behind us, its cliff furthest out to sea crumbled last night._

_So?_

_Remember how our dream ended Sapphire, the rock really did collapse when you needed it to. Saldowr always said you would have strange abilities but…_

_Faro? Are you saying I caused a landslide?_

_Yes, I think you might have, or else it is a very suspicious coincidence._

I pull away from him, stunned, and he lets me with a mournful expression. "But… I didn't do anything, I just knew I couldn't stop," I grimance "_her_."

"I'll show you, come on." Faro pushes off and into the water.

"Faro, come back here." I call weakly, following it with my silent confession. _I don't feel strong enough for Ingo just yet_.

And, darling thing that he is, he comes right back to my side, pulling himself back up onto the rock, giving me a totally delicious view of his muscles in action. _And,_ a happy little voice in my head murmurs, _now I'm allowed to openly watch! Yayha!_

It only occurs to me just at this moment that Faro didn't exactly answer my question about the boyfriend/girlfriend thing, but I don't really care. Surely waiting around for days and protecting me even in my dreams and… so many other things I could list, are proof enough of his feelings for me?

It also only just now occurs to me that I am grinning like a kid at Faro, and he's doing the same to me. Guess since we'd both been waiting forever to admit it to the other, we were gonna be doing this completely stupid smiling for a while – to make up for lost time.

_Probably._ Faro whispers into my head, and I don't object as I usually would. If he's going to be my karer – _yippee!_ – I'm just going to have to let him.

_This goofy grinning needs to stop, we probably look like we're drunk_.

_That's not a bad explanation for it._ He shrugs, stroking his thumb over my fingers – when did he take hold of my hand? I didn't notice him do it… but oh it feels nice, the warmth of his smooth skin. _Sapphire? What is it? __**You're**__ puzzled now._

_I'm trying to work out why your hands are so smooth compared to mine. The stereotype is that girls have soft hands._

Faro looks at his fingers, holding them next to mine. _Since when did you believe stereotypes Sapphire? But you're right, I might not have the blue tint of the rest of the Mer, but I still have their sleekness of skin._

_I have Earth hands._

_Yes, but since you don't live in the water, it makes sense for you to have rougher hands._

_Why Faro, you're being remarkably tolerant of this._ I think teasingly to him.

"When was I ever intolerant of anything?" he asks innocently with his smile growing ever bigger.

"Well… the first time that comes to mind was when I called you a mermaid." I grin back at him, trying to imagine his tail covered in glittering scales.

"Don't you dare!" he exclaims, having spotted the image in my head.

"Aww, why not, you'd look great covered in diamonds."

…

Obeying her opening for mischief, I murmur in reply "I'm sure I'd prefer sapphires."

Sapphire sits for a moment, open-mouthed in surprise before launching herself at me, knocking us both into the water as she laughs "Don't be cheeky Faro!" then, upon adjusting to the different method of speech continues to chortle "Bad, bad Faro, no hugs for you!"

"I am not your _pet_. Mer don't keep _pets_." I growl at her, realising immediately that she is pretending that I am her dog.

"Aww, poor Faro, poor Faro is jealous of Sadie…" her playful tone fades as she murmurs again "Sadie…"

"Sapphire?" I reach for her as face clouds with Air thoughts, making her eyes shimmer with unshed tears.

"I don't know who's got Sadie!" she cries, fighting against my hold on her.

"Sapphire, shh." I whisper, again caressing her hair which begins to calm her instantly, but I can feel the thrumming of her mind as she panics. "I'm sure your doggie will be fine."

"But I'm suppsed to look after her! It's _my_ job!" she snuffles, closing her eyes as I sing to her.

"Omdhiserri, a'm kader kares,

Tewel, ankevi anhwek awelow,

Hedre tewedhow koler a-ugh Moryow,

Ty kavasa hunya a-ji hebask.

Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,

Moryow awelow hwibana kanow,

Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,

Moryow awelow hwibana kanow.

Myrgh a'n Neshevyn Lowenna a-dhann Moryow,

Bynitha awel kana kanow,

Gwavow oerwyn po havow awel glor,

Leunhe dha hunrosa gans aga tresor.

Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,

Moryow awelow hwystrenn kanow,

Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,

Moryow awelow hwystrenn kanow…"

…

My mind hushes when Faro's flowing words bubble beautifully around me. My only thoughts are the translation from Mer to English, and the correction of context.

_Calm yourself, my beautiful girlfriend,_

_Hush, forget harsh winds,_

_While the storms rage over the sea,_

_You shall sleep in peace._

_Calm yourself, calm yourself,_

_Sea winds whistle lullabies,_

_Calm yourself, calm yourself,_

_Sea winds whistle lullabies._

_Daughter of the Happier Kindred under the sea,_

_Evermore the winds sing lullabies,_

_Winter blizzard or summer breeze,_

_Fill your dreams with their treasure._

_Calm yourself, calm yourself,_

_Sea winds whisper lullabies,_

_Calm yourself, calm yourself,_

_Sea winds whisper lullabies…_

I've never heard Faro sing before. Yes, he'd hummed in front of me, and joined in a little when I sang songs he knew, but that was kids' stuff compared to this – Faro has one of _those_ voices, and it kills me when he falls into silence.

My thoughts buzz in the quiet. _Why did I never hear his music rising above the others when the sea called to me? Why did he never sing to me before? Why— He called me his 'beautiful girlfriend'! Yayayayayayay!_

_Yes, I did,_ His thought comes, glowingly happy into my head, _and that's why I could sing for you. The Mer can only sing for their loved ones_.

Well that answered that question…

_And, now it's your turn Sapphire_.

_No. Nonononono. I'm not singing. I'll sound terrible in comparison to you!_

_You won't Sapphy, trust me._

_I do trust you, but I also trust you to flatter me more than tell me the truth._

_I won't lie to you Sapphire, not ever._

_What was the Conor-thing then?_

_Just not mentioning it._

I roll my eyes. _Fine, you get that one, but I am not singing for you._

_Puh-leeeeeaaaaassssse._ His pleading thought comes to me as he strokes my cheek with his fingertips, and runs his thumb across my lips – which is both very distracting, and incredibly persuasive.

_N—_

_What were you singing last time? Sing that for me._

_You want me to… No! No I am not singing that! I only started singing that because you were unconsious!_

_I'll knock myself out if you really want Sapphire, but I want to hear you sing first._

_No. No-nuh-no-nuh-nono. Not happening._

_Yes. Yesyesyes, happening. Sing for me Sapphire, please._

_Faro, do you seriously think that if you ask it again and again, the answer will change?_

_Yes._

_You are impossible!_

_You are beautiful._

I float in complete silence, registering his comment and trying to fit it into my logic, except it refuses to stay put. The words bounce around my head endlessly, too perfect and wonderful to sit in the clutter of my mind. _Um,_ I think to myself, hiding it, _I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. How the hell do you reply to that?_

Faro waits patiently, arms still around my bare waist, the warmth of his body is both strange and appreciated in the ever-constant temperature of Ingo. It occurs to me that his heat must be another thing separating him from the other Mer, as I don't remember any of the others' having a human body temperature – but I don't care what he is as long as he's _mine_.

His comforting presence reminds me of a song I loved as a child, one I always wanted to sing, but could never get high enough for. However, upon taking Drama as one of my classes in school, I have longsince learnt that there are ways around the limitation of personal range – which was helpful for me, as I actually had a lower voice than a lot of the other girls.

…

I begin to panic just a little bit when she closes her mind to me, but when one tiny little thought escapes her wall, I cannot help but grin at it. I don't even mind that it meant she's probably thinking about me not being entirely Mer, the fact that she said _I don't care what he is as long as he's __**mine**_ diminishes my anguish about the subject. _After all, _I think privately,_ what does blood matter if she can still love me?_

"Okay, I'll sing for you…" Sapphire finally says quietly, only looking at me in quick glances, like she's nervous – I don't think I've ever seen her look nervous for anything less than something trying to kill her. "But don't you dare laugh at me, I haven't ever sung it before."

"Sapphire, you know I won't." I tell her, meaning it with – forgive the cliché – all my heart.

"I'll show you worlds,

You've never seen,

The sun and moon and shadow,

The rainbow's arch, the mountain stream,

The sunny clouds,

And the winter's dreams."

And she had, Sapphire has shown me so much about my own world – so many different ways of looking at and doing things. One day, maybe, I will see hers too…

"I'll play you sounds,

You never heard,

The waterfall, the river,

The thunder of the hummingbird,

The whisper of the snow."

_Sapphire, what's a 'hummingbird'?_

_Be quiet Faro._

"What if you never know,

How much I care,

Till we are parted,

By the stormy sea?

How could I let you go?

How could I bear,

A life without you,

Here with me?"

The passion and melancholy she put into that verse almost broke me. The rising of her voice as if demanding an answer of the sky, and the sheer depth of feeling she conveyed put a shaking inside of my soul that I couldn't stop.

I can feel the music flowing from her memory, the haunting lyrics accompanied by graceful acoustics which embodied the natural beauty she sang of…

"The world's a door,

That's open wide,

Because you're here beside me!

And with the moon and sun,

To guide me…

Now my heart,

Can fly.

Now our hearts,

Can be:

Free…"

Sapphire falls silent after holding the longest note I have ever heard, and is remarkably not gasping for breath, just floating with a thoughtful expression as she looks at nothing in particular. After a moment or two of quiet contemplation, she shakes her head and turns her attention to me.

"There, I sang for you."

I smile slowly "Yes, you're a brilliant singer."

"And you're an incorrigible flatterer."

I roll my eyes at her, then say seriously "No, I mean it. You put more passion into song than anyone, human or Mer I have ever heard."

"Well, um, I, um learnt from the best I suppose…" but the adorable red fades from her cheeks as she forces out the words: "Dad had a great voice, and I have his voice."

…

_I am not going to cry. Dad died two years ago, and he was lost to me long before that. Dad chose Mellina and Ingo over me, I shouldn't care anymore. But I do, I cannot stop loving him even though he broke my heart… I can't stop loving anything or anyone, even if it would be better for me._

_I should hate him for what he did to me, to Conor, to Mum – but I __**can't**__. I haven't even been able to make myself hate anyone, ever, the closest I've got is being pissed off enough to severely dislike them – but I'd still die at their loss._

_What is wrong with me? Why can't I hate?_

_I can feel anger, betrayal, loss, grief… so why not hate?_

_I don't even hate Mortarow or Ervys, the two men who were responsible for the death of my father, I'm sad that they were so lost and misguided that they felt it was necessary…_

_But, even though I can't hate them, or my father, I still want him back, no matter what choices he made which separated us – he'll always be my daddy…_

"Faro?" I hear my mouth ask from amidst the grieving pain in my mind.

He's watching me with, well, actually I don't know what to call that expression, but it looks like he thinks I'm going to shatter if he even breathes. "Yes Sapphire?" he murmurs softly, probably aware of the anguished thoughts that were racing through my head.

"Do you remember your parents at all?" _Stupid, stupid, stupid mouth! Why do you have to say the things I tell you not to?! Why do you always pick the most insensitive, embarrassing or outright rude questions?!_

"Not really, I didn't let Mellina or anyone else give me memories of them, I wanted to only remember things that were mine."

Now, with a bit more tact – since he was strangely acquiescent of the topic – I continue to ask the questions I've been dying to know the answers to "What memory was so special?"

Faro blinks a lot – and even though the full-blooded Mer cannot cry, I recognise the symptoms of I-am-_not_-going-to-cry syndrome – and swallows before speaking "I'll show you."

He opens his past to me, and I float in the feelings of an infant Faro.

…

_I have never shared this recollection with anyone, not even Elvira,_ I realise, giving the thought to Sapphire, along with the memory itself.

_Mama is singing, Dada is singing. Elvy is in Dada's arms, I am in Mama's, surrounded by her hair. We don't want to go to sleep, but music is swirling around us as we are rocked gently. _

_The water is beautiful here, 'sunwater' Dada said, and Mama said 'Howl-dowra' it confuses me for something to have two names, but I'm too tired to mind much._

_No, I'm not tired. I want to play some more, I want to go and play with my friends, or the dolphins – yes the dolphins are my favourite, they swim above the water. When I'm with the dolphins, I go places Mama would never let me go. The dolphins go close to 'syghtir' right up to 'land' where the 'tus' or 'humans' are._

_Humans are so strange. They don't live in Ingo. But how? I once asked a dolphin this, and she simply laughed at me and said to ignore them, that they're no fun to play with – so I believed her, as dolphins are always right._

_Dada is lying Elvy down on her mossy bed, and she yawns before falling into sleep. I resolutely and stubbornly refuse to let my eyelids close – I am not tired, I want to play some more!_

"_Come on my little golowji, sleepy times for baby Faro." Mama whispers, but I still cannot see her face, it is hidden by her hair, as is Dada's when he comes to her side, still humming the lullaby._

"_Na-na." I say "Not tired… Difun." I add to please Mama._

"_Omdhiserri, omdhiserri,_

_Moryow awelow hwibana kanow,_

_Omdhiserri…"_

"I don't remember anything after that, I fell asleep." I admit, embarrassed.

"How old were you, cos your mum called you 'baby Faro'?" Sapphire is smiling a little in amusement at the title, and I cannot help but smile back.

"Probably younger than Mordowrgi is now."

Sapphire bites her bottom lip, and I can feel from her mind that she's trying to keep her impulsiveness in check.

"What? What is it you want to say Sapphire?"

She avoids my eyes for a second then blurts "How old are you?"

"Oh dear." My mouth says before I can stop it.

"Why 'oh dear'?"

"Umm…"

"Don't 'umm'! Just answer me! You've never actually told me how old you are, though I've been trying to ask you for nearly six years!"

She had a point, I had been avoiding answering her, just as… Elvira, probably had Conor. Well, if Sapphire is to be my kares and is truly my karadow, I have to tell her.

"I don't know."

…

The words sit in my numbed head uselessly. _Faro doesn't know how old he is… How is that __**possible**__ to not know how old you are? What about birthdays? Can't you tell by things like when you make the Crossing, because that's done by age group?_ My mind spins, searching for all the various ways to tell age.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"What did it sound like I meant?" he snaps back.

"How can you not know how old you are?! Surely Saldowr or Mellina can tell you when you were born."

"No." Faro shakes his head "You remember when you and Conor spoke of time in Air and Ingo being different?"

"Yes."

"Well, you record time through watches, and clocks and the sun, but the Mer don't measure time at all."

"So then how are you supposed to say how old you are…?" I mumble, thoroughly confused.

"We only say our age group. They're like your Maiden, Mother and Wise Woman categories."

I smirk "Which does that make me?"

Tactfully avoiding an answer to that question he states "I would be in the same age group as you, but maybe a little older."

"Yes, but when does one stop and another start?"

Faro shrugs "When it looks like it? Surely you can tell a baby from a teenager, and an elderly from an adult?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"That, Sapphire, is the difference between Mer and human, humans have 'buts'."

_Oh yes Faro, that is __**definitely**__ the difference,_ I think to myself, trying not to burst into tears of laughter, or even let him know the major pun he's completely unconsciously made.

So, to avoid going further into that conversation, I scrounge up an earlier one and say. "So, you wanted to show me this cliff I made collapse? Since I happen feel a bit better now, shall we go?"

Faro grins "Of course, as you wish."

…

I turn tail, swimming a little ways from Sapphire, only to hear her scream.

"FARO!"

* * *

**I didn't actually plan any of this chapter, I just knew I needed to fill out the gap, and this is what happened. BTW, that 'buts' pun was completely unplanned and I didn't even notice until about three sentences later – after which I nearly died with laughter.**

**I know it's really annoying, but I'm going to request at least five reviews before I post the next chapter.**


	10. Discoveries

**Since a certain favourite reviewer of mine made a nuisance of themselves, I'm updating this as soon as possible, even though I was actually trying to focus on my Vampire Academy fic. I can't help it, Faro and Sapphire are just too cute to be left hanging.**

**So, also inspired by the return of the sunshine – and let's not forget my favourite flowers (not hard to guess what they are from how I said that!) – here we go! :D**

* * *

"FARO!" I screech, spotting the rope before he does. But it is too late, even if he had seen the almost-invisible line connecting a cage and a boat, his movement away from me had sprung the trap.

I watch helplessly as the glass – well, more likely plastic – cage sweeps through the water, catching Faro before either of us can move, and towing him faster than anything can swim… towards the Air, and whatever humans await.

"_SAPPHIRE_!" he screams, both aloud and into my mind, pounding his fists against the flat surface until I can no longer hear him for distance.

_What just happened?_ Is my stupid thought. But I know what happened, Conor lied to me. My _brother_, reputed for honesty whenever possible, lied to me. A theory dawns on me, _That's who he was calling! That night on the phone when it didn't sound like Rainbow! He was setting me and Faro up. The bastard!_

_Stop,_ I tell myself,_ Conor can wait, Faro needs you __**now**_. I take a deep breath, and start swimming.

I quickly realise, that this method is not going to work. I am not fast enough, and will not reach Faro before… _things_ are done to him. I need help, and not even a friendly Mer – haha, as if there are any besides Faro – could help me. Right now, I need something a little faster.

Faro promised they would come if I called them, and Seiliko pledged their blessing to me alone. I am Kowethes Moryow, and sister to the dolphins, and right now, I need them.

"Breder! Hwerydh! Gweres dhymm!" I whistle the words, it's hard to explain, but that's how it works with dolphin music.

There is no answer. I repeat the message in normal Mer, which other creatures can understand too, but still, nothing answers. I cannot sense any living things for a very long ways away, and the waters whisper the fact's truth to me.

Panic brings my not-breaths faster and faster, sending my heart pounding into my chest as I try to catch up with the speck that was once my Faro.

_Hanter-unnwoes galow, ni obaya._ The waters of Ingo murmur, the words enveloping my skin and sinking in. I nearly cry at their meaning 'Half-blood calls, we obey.' even my beloved Ingo feels it must remind me that I do not belong here, or anywhere.

_No, _I think to myself furiously,_ I don't have time to be pathetic or miserable or self-pitying. Faro needs me!_

"Friend-of-Ingo, what's wrong?" A beautiful, melodic voice sings to me from above my head, I look up to see the sleek form of a female dolphin.

"Boat! Humans! Took Faro!" Is my incredibly shaky reply as I point in the direction he was pulled in.

The dolphin's eyes, though they can't widen exactly, show her distress at the news. After but a moment's hesitation, she dips beneath me, murmuring "Let us fly together kowethes."

I become one with her instantly, bonding more easily than with any other, even my dear Seiliko who I have missed so much. The betrayal of my sorely missed friend stings, until I realise that my travelling companion is familiar.

"Thank you for saving me that day." she clicks as she charges the skin and flies into the sky, searching for the boat. "If you hadn't called the water, I would've died there on the sand."

_Called the water?_ I think, bemused, not intending for her to hear the thought.

"Yes, you did not know? You begged Ingo to save me, the Tide Knot loosed to obey you. All of Ingo will obey you, did you not know this?"

"No…" I answer, thoroughly confused.

"Then forget it for the moment, your karadow has need of us." her soft voice soothes my buzzing mind in a way I've never encountered anywhere. We leap through the water again and she lets out peals of glistening laughter "I am Ligeia!" she declares upon entering the water again "She-Who-Sings-The-Sweetest."

Her recognition pattern briefly puzzles me, surely it should not be 'sweet' in Ingo, but the thought is quickly overridden by the knowledge that some words do not translate properly. Yet, despite the language barrier, her pattern fits perfectly, I have never heard a more perfect voice… though it hurts a little to admit she can beat Faro.

"Ahh, love is such a pleasure to be around, love is the song of one soul to another. I assure you Sapphire," her speech pauses as we take another flying leap into the sky, the boat is on the horizon now, _Faro, I'm coming_. "I may be recognised for my voice, but your karadow is just as talented from what I hear in your memories." more joyful, glittering giggles "Though he will never sing for another besides you."

_What?_ I block the thought from her as she halts her rush in that freaky complete-stop only dolphins can accomplish. My neck jerks forward uncomfortably, and I wince at the tenderness of my head.

I look around to see why she has stopped, only to see a collection of metal bars to my left, a ladder. I release myself from Ligeia sadly, and feel her own melancholy at the separation pulsing against me, followed by urgency. "We will be together again soon kowethes," she assures me "but first Faro needs your help, or all of Ingo will suffer."

I nod, I know that, I just wish I wasn't the heroine all the time. Starting to quietly climb the ladder, I turn back to see her waiting patiently for me. I cannot let her stay there, worrying "Ligeia?" I ask gently, almost ashamed of how my voice must sound next to hers.

"Kowethes, you must hurry."

"Yes, I am, but can you inform Saldowr of what has happened?"

She dips her head in a nod, then dives away to do my bidding – wow, that thought sounded so snobby.

I climb above the water, and am instantly shocked by the noise, then almost laugh at it. Faro is yelling my name, in Mer, very, very loudly.

…

"Well, if it's a hoax, it's a bloody good one." a male adult human says, prodding my tail with his finger. I yelp at the surprise pain, and hiss at him. How_ dare_ they damage my tail!

_Sapphire,_ I think pitifully as another, female human grabs a harsh hold of my left arm, and digs something shiny into the skin, it's short and sharp, like a mini-spear. It hurts, a lot, and I feel very ill when I see the rope leading from the spear is turning from clear to red. They are stealing my blood!

And, as if their tortures of me weren't enough, the sun is beginning to feel uncomfortable against my tail, causing the restless fidgeting they had poked me for.

"But, it cannot be!" the one taking my blood answers the first one, "Look at this tail, it does not occur in nature, part seal, and dolphin or whale at the end. It must be real! It feels real when you stroke it, go on." she gestures to another, more reserved human who is looking at me strangely. The human, who happens to also be female, is older than the other two, she has faint lines of grey streaking her blonde hair.

The three humans talk some more, but I don't hear them.

_Faro…_

_Sapphire!_ I answer, relieved by her presence. _Oh Sapphire, please help me, we can't let them find out about Ingo or the Mer. You've got to warn Saldowr and the others. Sapphire, I'm so sorry, this is all my fau—_

_Faro! Calm down. _She commands into my racing mind._ I'm not going to let them do anything to or with you. But, you're going to have to do exactly as I tell you. First, I need to see them through your eyes, I can hear you all but only just._

So, doing as she says, I open my mind to her, and let her use my senses. I've never done this before, but it doesn't scare me to know Sapphire is inhabiting my body alongside me, it feels almost _right_.

…

They're stroking Faro's tail, commenting on how unusual it is, but how real it seems to be. He doesn't like it, their hands feel unbearably dry to his flesh, and he's drying out enough as it is. _Oh my poor Faro,_ I think to myself, trying to block the pain from his feeling, as well as my own.

_It's not so bad Sapphire, I'll live_. Comes Faro's cocky reply, but I can feel that he's trying to pretend it doesn't hurt.

_I'm sorry Faro, none of this would be happening if I'd just picked a human boyfriend,_ I try to block the traitorous thought, but being inside his mind, of course he hears me.

_**I'm** not. And, you know it's not as bad for me as it would be for any other._ His thought is weak as he queasily stares at the needle in his arm, drawing his blood slowly into a bag.

_Faro…_ I think hesitantly.

_Sapphire, I've told you before, you don't have to be shy of asking me anything._

I show him my amusement at that, I am almost always shy when I ask the Mer anything – they so often think of me as ignorant and stupid, or arrogant and evil due to being human. _Faro, would you be able to become human? You and Saldowr have hinted at it for years, but I've never actually asked._

_This isn't exactly the time Sapphire!_ Is his frantic reply.

_This is **exactly** the time! If you became human they wouldn't bother you, and they wouldn't find out about the Mer!_

_Oh… I didn't think of that._ He shakes his head slightly, getting odd looks from the three scientists still talking – what to him is – gibberish. _Saldowr says I can, but I don't know how._

_Damn._ Is my incredibly succinct reply, just as the youngest scientist opens my Faro's mouth and – to our complete surprise – rubs a cotton bud against the inside of his cheek. _What the hell? _I wonder to myself.

_Sapphire, what are they doing to me?_ Faro coughs and squrims as the older woman removes the needle from his left elbow. She looks at him sympathetically and murmurs an apology which I translate for Faro, and tell him to nod in answer to.

This gets raised eyebrows from the scientists, even whilst the man takes the bag of blood and puts it in a coolbox.

_Okay, Faro,_ I think to him, shifting my weight on the ladder, as it is getting very uncomfortable to just hang like this, _we need to talk our way out, and somehow convince them to let us go home_. I give him the words to say, and show him how to pronounce them in English, and laugh silently to myself at my choices.

…

Sapphire is mocking me, even whilst saving my life and those of the Mer. "Please," she tells me to stumble a little on the words, as if scared, it is not hard, as I have never tried to speak like a human before "Please, can you take me back?" and this is the bit that she is teasing me with "My girlfriend will be so worried."

I can hear her mental laughter when I finally stammer the words out. _Oh, you are going to **pay** for that_, I inform her.

But, before she can answer my threat, the eldest human crouches down in front of me and murmurs, with suspicion "You speak English?"

I nod upon Saph's instruction, but remain quiet since she says to.

"Well, my name is Yvonne, and we will take you home sweetheart, after we've asked you a few questions, and done a few tests."

I wince at the word 'tests', and can sense Sapphy isn't happy about it either.

"What do you want with me?" I ask slowly, as the question is spiralling through both our minds.

Yvonne stands as the man demands gruffly, gesturing wildly with his hands "What do you think we want? A mythical creature that just so happens to be real, did you really expect us to not want to study a mermaid?!"

I laugh, I don't even need Sapphire to provide words for this one, just the translation "Anatomically impossible." I inform them, rubbing at my arm when it throbs from the movement.

Yvonne grabs something dark blue from a 'coolbox' behind her, she returns to her crouch at my side and presses the thing onto the curve of my arm. I am just about to take my arm back when Sapphire yells that I mustn't, and I realise it doesn't hurt.

"Here you go sweetie." Yvonne croons as the chill from the thing numbs the ache "That should stop it hurting quite so much."

"If you didn't want to hurt me, why did you stab me?!" I exclaim, glaring at her while she just smiles in an expression I cannot read.

"To get a blood sample," she says slowly, glancing at her colleagues "it's very useful, you can learn a lot from an organism's blood.

The other woman rolls her eyes, then grins brightly at me "Yeah, but what did you mean 'anatomically impossible'?" she laughs "You've gotta be possible, you're here!"

And, in perfect repetition of some of my first words to Sapphire, I answer "I meant about being a maid, I'm male, not female."

The young one's smile grows ever bigger "I had noticed, but the interesting thing is this." she nudges my tail with her shoe. I scowl at her, causing her smile to falter, but she continues anyway "Apparently, _this_ is not as anatomically impossible as we once believed."

"Don't do that!" I yell at her, folding my arms crossly, only wincing a little when my elbow protests "You'll damage it," then, inspired by Sapphire's loss for words and humanity's constant wish to copy other species' abilities "and ruin the surprise."

_What are you __**doing**__ Faro?!_ Sapphire whispers into my mind, worried.

Yvonne raises an eyebrow at my alarm, but calmly regards her companion "Do as he says Jill. But, what did you mean, surprise?" she sounds genuinely curious.

I don't need any words from Sapphire, this answer is all mine "My girlfriend loves the sea, and she's always loved the idea of merpeople. I spent the last year making tails for us both, it's a surprise, for her birthday."

…

_Oh Faro…_ I think reverently, wishing I lived in another, alternate world where this perfect and wonderful boyfriend could truly be mine, and that story be a fact.

"Take off the tail." the man says, casually leaning against the side of the boat and watching Faro with a suspicious glint in his eyes.

Faro's eyes widen in panic, he doesn't know how to answer, what to do. And for a moment, nor do I, until common sense kicks in and tells me exactly what a human boy Faro's age would've just said.

"No way!" he repeats upon instruction.

"Why not? Perhaps, because you can't?"

Faro sits up straight and haughtily announces "I am _not_ going to strip in front of strangers!" he gestures to his tail "It doesn't fit properly over clothes!"

Jill titters at that "So, part of the plan was to get her kit off? How very like a guy."

And, Faro, lovely, darling thing that he is, does not even need a prompt from me. He scowls "No! I wouldn't do something so… so…" his fury at the idea is palpable to me, and entirely precious "It was to make her happy for her sixteenth birthday!" he softens his tone "She's probably wondering where I am, can you please take me back now?"

"Wait a minute," the still-suspicious man calls "the cage was set to only active if something swam above it, and you were covered in seawater when we pulled you out, explain that."

Yvonne frowns, giving Faro an apologetic glance "That's enough, the kid is clearly terrified we're gonna cut him up or make him run around naked, let's just get him home." then, turning back to Faro, grins and says "Well, at least this is a reasonable excuse for your girlfriend." She briefly walks out of sight, somewhere towards the front of the boat, but her voice can still be heard "Lance! Take us back where the trap was set, would ya!" then, upon noting the way Faro is glancing at Jill's jealous smiles, Yvonne addresses her colleages "Jill, Bert, go sunbathe or somethin' you're scaring the kid."

And thankfully, the pair leave, towards the bow, on the starboard side, far too close to spotting me for comfort.

…

The scarier Jill and Bert depart at Yvonne's command and I feel a stab of fear from Sapphire, then one of relief as they pass, oblivious to her presence.

Yvone then does something which at first seems very odd, she grabs a bucket from the very rear of the boat, leans over the side and fills it, only to throw the water over me. _Ahh,_ I sigh happily at the relieving moisture on my skin, _now if only I were away in Ingo, with Sapphire in my arms._ But I hide that thought, no need to overwhelm my kares.

"Really," she sighs in annoyance "you need to be more careful mab a'n Moryow." then raises her voice "And you Sapphire, come out."

Sapphire's mind shows surprise just before pulling away from mine, but her physical form appears quickly as she clambers over the side of the boat. She is shivering, badly, as she crawls towards me. I open my arms to her, and she falls into them, relief all over her face as she rests her head against my chest.

"So, you know then?" I ask Yvonne whilst Sapphire continues to tremble, her skin like ice against mine.

"Of course, we are the same, 'hanter-unnwoes' as your people say, 'xci dm' as my friends would say, 'half-bloods' in the common tongue." her tone changes, becoming sharper "Do you realise, I have had to protect three of your people this year alone? Really, Ingo must be revealed or hide properly, it cannot remain on this knife-edge for much longer."

Sapphire isn't shivering so badly now, and her teeth only chatter a little when she asks, still pressed against my side "There are others? Others who're mixed?" she flails to find one of my hands and squeezes it tightly, excitement bubbling out of her and making me laugh quietly.

"Yes, of course there are." Yvonne scoffs, regarding my now-silenced Sapphire "I said three answered reports this year, didn't I?"

Sapphire leans further into me, like she's scared of the woman.

…

_Oh God, stop it, stop looking at me like that. You're mixed too, you shouldn't be doing the lab-animal stare. Stop it, stop it, stop it._ I think rapidly to myself, hiding my anxiousness from Faro, he's been very brave today, I am _not_ going to break down and have a wimp-attack.

"It's my job to keep Ingo's secrets hidden from the public's knowledge, just as my husband protects Norvys, Admh, Earth from human corruption."

I am about to ask what language she has used twice now, when the more important fact smacks into my brain, it consumes my curiosity. "What power could humans possibly corrupt? Most humans aren't either Earth or Ingo." but my voice falters a little as I say it, remembering Rainbow, and Gloria.

Yvonne nods sadly "Unfortunately, you are both right and wrong, humans themselves may not be able to, but their inventions can. Machines are harnessed solely to ease the lives of humans, whilst either polluting the Earth, or outright attacking the All-Mother. I am part of a society whose goal is to save the Earth, lessen humans' use of harmful technology and protect not just the environment, but everything living on this planet." she takes something from her pocket, and hands it to me, it is a card, laminated "Your brother would have humans ruin the sea to punish the Mer. I cannot allow this, Earth, Air and Ingo must choose to work together, or we will all die together."

My hand is suddenly crushed under Faro's as he demands "What do you mean, 'we will all die together'?"

"This planet is dying, we have been poisoning her for centuries, and our population has skyrocketed over the last sixty years. The Earth _cannot_ cope, and humans will leave it too late, so those on both sides have decided that we must do something." she sighs and addresses me alone "But for now, you two must go home, the card I gave you, call the number Saturday afternoon, and you will be told when we are meeting up next."

"But Faro—" I protest, it is the best way I can think of to diplomatically say that I didn't actually agree to join her… movement.

"Will be one of many Mer there, now, time to go."

The boat's engine stops, and I realise we are back at the cove. I stand and am about to climb over the side and wade to the beach, when I realise, Faro cannot achieve such a feat.

"Umm…" I say stupidly, looking from Faro, to the walls of the boat, and to the sea. "How?"

I refuse to say how we managed it, and Faro partway informed me that we shall never speak of it again, only to yelp when we finally pushed him into the water. "Don't forget!" Yvonne had reminded me, with a meaningful glare as she returned to the insides of the boat, leaving me to leap into the water before it powered away.

And now, here we are, Faro and I holding each other like we never intend to let go. Because we don't, or at least, Faro doesn't seem to, since he's the one doing the squishing. But I don't actually mind, it's somehow a good kind of squish because of it being him doing it… if that makes sense.

So, to stop my completely insane and useless mental babbling, I decide to say the first thing that comes to mind "See now Faro? I told you gravity's a bitch, she makes me eight stone."

…

_Stone?_ I think, bemused as I let her pull away, but only a little, I'm not letting go just yet. _She weighs as much as eight stones? But that makes no sense, does she mean pebbles, or boulders, or something in the middle, there is great variation in the sizes of rocks_.

My mind is taken from the strange subject as Sapphire's eyes widen in the discovery that she is still holding Yvonne's 'card' in her hand. She stares at it for a moment, and her mind is open enough for me to hear _What should I do with it?_ She looks around, then, with a shy glance in my direction, pushes it into the side of her 'bikini' which holds it safely against her ribs.

Her cheeks are lighting up with that endearing red again as she regards me, biting her lower lip in that way that makes me want to squirm. "Oh my God!" she abruptly declares, mouth flopping open just a little as she looks down at herself – I see nothing amiss, but she seems to "I did all of that wearing next to nothing."

"So?" I ask her, wondering why in Ingo that is a problem.

"I just had a whole conversation with a _stranger_, while being half-naked! Don't you see how weird that is?!"

"Uh, no?"

She blinks once, startled "Well, um, you've never worn clothes in your life, so I guess you wouldn't understand the concept of modesty."

…

_Good thing too, _I think as he regards me curiously,_ it's not many guys I'd be happy to sit around while they're topless, but hell Faro, is it wrong that I wanna lick you? I imagine you'd taste like salt-water, but that's okay with me, I still drink it sometimes when nobody's looking. But wait, wouldn't it be really unhygienic, cos the sea isn't very clean, even where it's not polluted, but then again, I've not got sick from breathing in it for years…_

"Sapphire," Faro murmurs, tapping my arm and ending my train of thought "come back here please."

I gasp when I take in his face "You better not have been reading my thoughts just now Faro!"

He feigns innocence "What, the ones about how you still drink salt and water when you think Conor isn't looking?" but his grin gives away that he knows exactly what I was thinking about, or enough of it anyway. _Oh God…_

"Sugar water too," I declare, in an attempt to keep any of my dignity "which I'm going to get you to try some time."

"No! Nonononono, no thank you Sapphire." he blurts worriedly, a look of complete petrification on his beautiful face.

"Aww," I say in disappointment "but it's really nice! I once mixed sugar and salt together, and nearly died it tasted so good, but Mum caught me and yelled at me for ages, so I haven't dared do it again."

Faro is now giving me one of those looks that says, very sarcastically 'that's fascinating Sapphire', so in answer, I just get up and walk over the rocks, as if I am about to leave. _Three, two, one…_ I think to myself, and I am right, just as I reach zero I hear:

"Sapphire! Come back!"

_I win,_ I think victoriously to him, and he concedes this with a roll of his eyes as I make my way back to our rock. "So, we have nothing to do until Saturday." I point out.

"What day is it today?" He asks.

I'd forgotten the Mer don't-measure-time discussion. "Oh, um…" I think about it for a short while, then say "Thursday, I think?" as I'm pretty sure Mum said it was Wednesday yesterday, but I've been sleeping weird, so I don't know if it was yesterday, or today, or two days ago, or what. I'll have to ask when I eventually go home.

"Don't go yet." Faro requests wistfully, reaching out to tuck some loose hair back into my still-sodden plait. "I still want to show you what you can do."

For a moment this confuses me, and even excites me, as it sounds like some sort of invitation. But when Faro pushes off into the now trap-free – I hope – water, I realise he intends to go back to what we were doing before we had the… _experience_ of Faro being captured by scientists. So, with a bored sigh – which he glares at me for – I follow along behind him to see the ever-so-exciting view of a collapsed cliff.

…

"HOLY CRAP!" Is Sapphire's reaction. Her eyes are wide as masked crabs' carapaces. "But— That's— I— How— You—" Her stammering is completely adorable.

"Not quite what you imagined when I said 'collapsed'?" I ask her with a teasing smile, feeling superior like I used to when we first me.

"I thought you were exaggerating!"

"Nope." copying the popping sound she makes whenever she says that particular word.

She stares at the mass of rock where there was once empty water and a smooth rock face, and her lower lip trembles as she swims closer.

"Sapphire?" I ask, "What's wrong?"

She reaches her hand out to the centre of the pile, and pulls something from a collection of small stones, returning to me, she shows me what she has found.

A strand of her hair.

* * *

**Wow, I sound like such an eco-warrior with this, but I've always thought not enough is being done to counter the damage we cause every day without even realising it. Think how much electricty it took to write this over the course of ten(plus) hours in all, broken up over a few days – I couldn't supply that by running on a treadmill if I ran for a month (well, actually I've no idea the exact amounts, but I know it would take forever)**

**Okay, thoughts on Yvonne? (She's gonna probably be a major character from here on, so should I make her nice, or a bit bitchy?) I always thought Helen Dunmore left the Earth side of Saph a little bit lonely, so I'm hoping some new characters can help with that, as well as a few familiar ones :D**

**Random fact: I now love the word 'squirm', as it seems to be Faro's special word for when he thinks about Sapphire.**


	11. Calling

**Heads up, this one I wanted to focus on thoughts, not dialogue, so Faro and Saph aren't going to talk to each other much (mentally or aloud) just think about what the other is doing. (I am doing this as an experiment, I'm trying to see which way shows their character better.)**

* * *

I have been avoiding Faro for two days now. It's been kinda weird, cos he's been calling me, I can both feel and hear it. Ingo's voice is crashing against my ears every few moments, and amongst the sounds of the sea, I can hear him, singing, begging for me to come back.

I'm not going to. Not yet.

I need time to figure this out. I need to understand what happened that night. I'd thought it was a dream, we both had. But if it was a dream, why did the cliff collapse, and why did I find some of my hair in the rubble?

Something to mention, my headache is back, it returned the moment I left Faro after finding that hair. It's not centred like before, there's no particular place which is better or worse, it's just an all-over, annoying ache.

I am worried. I know by now that Scylla was the one doing me the most damage after I hit my head, and that the weakness and nausea and general concussion symptoms were all her way of hiding her presence. But she's here, still here, clinging on like a parasite.

Thankfully she hasn't spoken yet, I don't think I'd be able to stand that, not yet anyway.

…

Two of Sapphire's 'days' have passed, I only know this because I have watched the position of the sun, and realised they use the alternation of the sun and moon to tell the time. Now that I think on it – whilst singing about her beneath my breath – it is a brilliant system, following a set series of time, that everyone can use. It is perfect for a species that cannot communicate so well as the Mer, it is so easy to grasp when you spot how they've done it.

The movement of their clocks follows the movement of the sun or moon through the sky. They have two sets of twelve hours, one set for each celestial body. It truly was an ingenious system, even when it was first laid down.

_The only problem, _I think to myself whilst moping,_ is how could I make clocks work without 'electricity'?_

…

I am lying on my bed right now, trying to ignore my general aching, and Faro's constant and rather pitiful cries. To be honest, I'm not doing a very good job at either, so I am about to do the same thing I always do when I'm moping, I am going to list all the useful things I've done recently.

Yelled at Conor about nearly possibly getting Faro killed, and I think he's got the message this time, especially since I told him the scientists thought Faro was a fake.

Umm, does getting a boyfriend count? Especially if that boyfriend's species causes a lot of problems in itself?

Been told about some hippie society where humans and Mer work together to save the world – gotta phone them later today.

Found out that there are loads more of mixed blood.

Found out that Faro may be able to – someday – turn human, but he has to figure out how first— OHMYGOD YAYHA, I WON'T HAVE TO BECOME MER – SUCK ON _THAT_ CONOR!

_Okay, I seriously need to calm down about that fact, but still… yay! _I take three deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself, but it doesn't really work, I am still buzzing inside like a swarm of bees.

Somehow, randomly, that thought reminds me of Yvonne, the strange woman on the boat, the one who helped save Faro. Her streaked hair was kinda like a bee, yellow, but with grey instead of black. Her eyes were a piercing yellow, again reminiscent of a yellow and black bee. But I think it was the way she talked so fast, the accent just screamed bee, well it said American (I think) too, but bee is what I'm focussing on at the moment.

Wait, she said stuff in another language… maybe, maybe if she wasn't speaking Russian or something weird, then maybe she was speaking Earth, or whatever they call it? Cos she used the funky language whenever she used Mer, so maybe she was translated between them?

_God, Sapphire, stop thinking, your headache is never gonna go away if you think so much._

"_We both know that isssn't true Sssapphire."_

But it's just my imagination, or at least, that's what I try to tell myself.

…

The sun is beginning to go down, I don't mean that it's setting, I merely mean that it is past midday, so slowly travelling towards the horizon – there are 'hours' to go until it sets.

Really, some human concepts are not idiotic at all when you think about them enough. 'Aeroplanes' for example, are not as ridiculous as I once thought – I realised how wrong I was just after the Crossing – humans move so slowly, on land and in the water, that they'd never get anywhere without the help of 'vehicles', because there are no currents to speed things along. 'Cars', 'boats' and 'planes' are just human equivalents of currents.

Sapphire is right again is seems. I just wish she'd come back so I can tell her so myself.

…

I am going to call now, I just need to get up, go get my new mobile (another birthday present) and dial the number on the card. Not so hard on the face of it, but I hate dialling, there is always that terrible fear of pressing one wrong digit without noticing, and then there's a completely different person on the end than the one you expected, and it's so awful…

_No, you are going to get it right, first time, just read the card properly and you'll be fine. Breathe girl, breathe, it's only a phone call._

"_You'll get it wrong Sssapphire, tassty girl makess many misstakess."_

_Nope, not listening, I'm pressing numbers, the correct numbers thank you very much,_ the screen shows the same list as the paper, _booyah, I'm awesome, first try_.

I examine the card as the phone rings. It is a standard three inch by two inch rectangle, with a stylised version of the words 'All Together' followed by – I guess – their slogan, which reads "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." not bad motto for what Yvonne was talking about, very 60's though. Something I feel I should point out, the logo is a tree with bubbles for leaves, with the name carved into the trunk – quite ingenious, I'd like to meet whoever came up with that.

"Ahh, hello, I've been waiting for you to call." comes a pleasant female voice.

"Umm, who is this?" I don't know what else to say, I've never done this before!

"Well, I can't say my name, but you can address me as Best Odds."

"But—"

"Wait a minute, before you say anything, I must tell you to never mention your name either, you and your… friend, are Blue Gem and Guiding Light respectively."

_What does 'respectively' mean? Well, it doesn't actually matter, because it's not exactly hard to guess which code name is mine – Blue Gem, that's just __**easy**__. _"Umm, okay… What do I do now?"

"Assuming you do not have anything more pressing to do, tomorrow you will come to meet the rest of us. One of your sisters will show the two of you the way, meet her at first light."

"Sisters? But I don't have any sisters."

"I think we both know that isn't true a'm hwerik." and she hangs up, just like that.

_What the __**hell**__?_

…

Anxiety is pulsing out of Sapphire so much that I can feel it even with the distance separating us. She has been worried about something the whole time she's been gone, and it's really beginning to get to me.

I think that she truly doesn't realise it yet, what karadow means to the Mer. Yes, I'm sure she knows the literal translation is 'beloved', but she doesn't seem to understand yet that it is closer to the human term – what was it? – 'soulmate'. She will do one day though, I will _make_ her understand, maybe I will visit Elvira without telling her, and then Sapphire will know what this feels like – like a constant ache inside, because the other half of you has been torn away.

But I can't do that to her. I cannot let Sapphire suffer, not if I can prevent it – that is what karadow means, I protect her from everything I possibly can, and love her till the seas dry and the land blows away.

Wow, Saldowr was right, I _do_ sound just as he called me, a 'lovesick teenager'. But I don't care what he thinks – well, I do, just the teeniest little bit – Saldowr never fell in love with a human.

Now, _that_ would be a great story…

…

This is all happening way too fast. What is going on? I thought getting a boyfriend was supposed to make everything easier to manage? That's what all those romance stories tell us! God, the authors were lying, heartless, bitches to make me think that, everything's just got worse since – as Rainbow put it – I asked Faro the first of the big questions.

That reminds me, gotta fix things with Rainbow.

Things to do:

Figure out how to convince Rainbow that Con wasn't cheating on her— therefore get them back together— therefore hopefully stop Conor from taking it out on Ingo _again_.

Figure out how to long-term fix the Conor-Elvira/Ingo relationship.

Decide whether to go to the All Together meeting tomorrow (it's not like I've anything better to do, but still)

Pick college and college courses. And hope like hell that I can have them despite my grades which will be totally terrible.

Get better – deep breath cos we all know that's not going to happen if a certain somebody is still leeching off me.

"_Ssshame on you Sssapphire—"_

_Nope, definitely not listening. I can't hear you. Lalalala. I'm gonna be free of you soon enough, as soon as I figure out how, you're gone._

"_You're not a murderer Sssapphire. You can only be rid of me if you kill me, and you would not kill another living creature."_

_I'm not vegetarian anymore._

"_You do not kill the animalss either."_

_Shut up, I am going to get rid of you, you are as good as gone._

"_Keep thinking that way Sssapphire, if you wissh."_

_Stop it!_

Seriously, gotta do something else, it's way too creepy having a conversation with a parasite.

"Saph?" Conor waves a hand in front of my face, "You okay?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?"

"Cos you had the 'away in Ingo' face going on, that's why."

"It wasn't Con, it really wasn't." is all I tell him, walking around him and downstairs to find Sadie – I need something to do.

"You better not be thinking about your fish-boy!" Con yells after me, probably without thinking—

Just as Mum walks in from the garden to hear it.

Shit.

"Fish-boy?" she asks, puzzled.

"Sapphy's got a boyfriend!" Con – evil, sadistic creature that he is – calls from upstairs, just for Mum.

"I do not!" I shout back, but my cheeks feel hot – I do not blush when I'm telling an Ingo-related lie, this is new to me.

"Sapphire?" Mum's eyes narrow curiously "_What_ is Conor talking about?"

And I've just thought of the perfect way to pay him back "Rainbow says Con cheated on her."

"WHAT?!" Mum blows up, and runs off to interrogate my brother, problem solved.

I cheerfully go in search of Sadie, and whisper the magic word to her – she's ready to go in less than a second. It takes less than a minute for my home to be out of sight as I run after her, letting her choose our route.

I follow her through the nearby meadows, which have turned yellow in the summer heat, grass dying in the drought. Her golden coat becomes one with a field of barley – one she technically shouldn't be in, but no-one has ever really objected – the only indication of where she is the waving of the fronds, like cattails in the wind.

It feels strange to be so far from everything that is Ingo, whilst still able to hear Faro's voice everytime I stop focussing entirely on Sadie's movements.

"Your teardrops are like diamonds,

And can cut me to the core,

Every time you look at me,

I love you even more."

_No, stop it, I'm in Air, surrounded by Earth, I'm not listening._

But his voice is so beautiful, and the words so heartfelt that I want to cry, all I want is to listen to him sing forever.

I scream as I fall, pushed by a flying mass of golden exuberence. Sadie barks into my face, as if to say 'You're supposed to be with me! Stop thinking about your other friends and come with me!' I laugh at the whine she lets out when I sit up dizzily, she's worried she's hurt me – it's nice to get that from your dog.

I rub her ears and kiss her shiny nose, looking into her ever-happy eyes "Aww, you didn't hurt me Sadie-girl." I coo at her, stroking in that place she really likes, just under her left cheek/jowl/thing. "That's what bums are for, it's why they're squishy."

_Why did I just say that to a dog? Hell, why did I just say that to __**anything**__? Awkward…_

"Come on lovely-girl, where to now?"

Sadie barks again, more forcefully this time, and keeps doing it, her fury turned on something I cannot see.

"Sadie? What is it?" I ask, hugging her and trying to calm my normally-friendly dog.

She briefly looks back at me, eyes shimmering in the sunlight as they meet with mine. 'Don't you hear it?' her eyes seem to say 'Don't you understand that something's wrong?' and then she immediately returns her attention to whatever it is and continues her volley of abusive sounds.

I follow her gaze, desperate to see what is upsetting her. From this angle at least, it seems she is yelling at the stream she nearly pushed me into. It is a small tributary of the larger Lady Stream, so is hardly worthy of the name, more like a puddle that happens to flow.

Speaking of flowing, the water is _moving_, against gravity.

"Sadie… What's happening?" I murmur, backing away from the water, in an inverse crab that is _so_ not what I should be doing when the sun is already getting to me and igniting my all-over aches and pains.

Sadie is growling now, but backing off too, herding me back into her Earth territory. She is trying to protect me. _But from what?_

Then I remember, Scylla said it herself, she could control water to trap her victims. But what's the point here? Surely so little would be useless to her.

Sadie is pulling at my sleeves, she's right, this is no time to sit around thinking how the hell the parasite inside me could make use of so little water – in truth, I'm not sure I'd ever want to know.

…

Manipulating water is tricky at the best of times. It doesn't have a mind of its own, but like fish, collectively it dislikes being messed with. Yet I am determined, I know where Sapphire is, I hear her thinking it very loudly – to block out other thoughts no doubt.

As I said/thought, making water move is a nuisance at the best of times, but when you can't actually see what you're trying to control, it becomes even harder. And, to make matters worse, the water is not salt-water. Now, this isn't as much of a problem as it could be, there is no such thing as Earth water – though humans seem to think unsalty water is a separate entity, for whatever reason – as all water is part of the same element. Yet, I have only practised this with seawater so landwater is another adjustment to make this even more challenging.

But I don't mind, I helped reign in the Tide Knot, surely this is nothing?

I throw my mind out again, locating Sapphire's bright, sparkling signature and searching for the nearest body of water larger than that in the air or supplying life to some creature or plant. It is not hard to find one, as Sapphire just happens to be right next to it.

Now, time to send my message to her, and finally get her attention.

I push the liquid, pressing it beyond the laws of 'gravity' but that does not trouble me, magic follows no human's laws. Good, it obeys after only a little persuasion. Now, I urge it to travel over the pebbles, carrying a few with it. It does so, _good, good river,_ I would tell it if it were truly sentient.

Here comes the hard part. I need the water to move the stones to form a shape. The shape is a human one, but I have memorised it ever since falling for Sapphire – such a strange expression, since I don't really understand the concept of falling, although Sapphire showed the feeling to me once, it's still hard to compare the two sensations.

Curve, now a straight bit, now a sharper corner, now straight again but at the opposite angle, now a curve which connects with the original point.

_There,_ I think proudly as the shape is completed, resting lightly on the bank of the tiny river, _now do you see Sa—_

Only to realise she's gone, the Earth creature has lead her away.

To quote Sapphire – _Damn it!_

…

"Oh, Sapphy-baby, what's wrong?" Mum calls upon seeing me walk in with Sadie at my heels.

"Nothing, why'd you think somethin's wrong?" I retort quickly.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." she answers, sounding slightly flustered at my harshness.

_Umm, oh crap, need a reply, need a reply, need a reply._ Since I can't think of one, I just shrug and turn away from her, stroking Sadie's neck.

"Well, um, dinner'll be ready soon." Mum says to break the silence.

I just 'm-hmm' at her in responce, following Sadie into the living room and collapsing onto the sofa.

_I'm tired, and everything aches, and I don't know what to do, and Rainbow hates me, and Conor hates my boyfriend, and everything is just— My life SUCKS._

"Omdhisseri, a'm karadow." comes Faro's voice, rising above the sounds of Roger watching the news, and Mum humming in the kitchen.

"The sea's loud tonight, eh Sapphy?" Roger comments.

_Shit! Faro stop, they can hear you!_ I send him the thought deliberately, to make sure he gets it.

_They hear only the waves._ Is his technically correct answer. _Come to me Sapphire, you'll see Moryow is completely still this evening._

I frown, turning my attention to stroking Sadie so as to seem I'm doing something. _No, I'm not—_ I realise this sounds bitter, and try again, _Not right now, they'll ask too many questions if I disappear just now._

_But later?_ Faro's mental voice sounds… eager.

_Yes, all right, I'll come after they've gone to bed – I'll have to think of some reason for me to be gone before they get up though…_

_Sapphire?_ Now he's both curious and confused.

_Tell you later. Over and out_.

Faro's mind pulses out a question mark.

_We'll talk later Faro._ I repeat, ending the link.

…

She's… She's going to spend the whole night with me? Did she mean that how it sounded? Because, what I understood was definitely that she is going to come to me, and stay with me, till after her family awakes.

But what is she hiding? What is it she needs to tell me? And why won't she tell me _now_?

* * *

**Okay, sorry for the wait, and sorry for the shortness, but I got majorly stuck getting from this bit to the next, so I'm just gonna skip the mundane stuff and get to the good stuff next chapter.**

**Two (mostly rhetorical) questions:**

**Any guesses who 'Best Odds' is, it is a familiar character!**

**What shape was Faro trying to make?**

**Two serious questions:**

**Should I continue this thought-orientated layout, or have more dialogue?**

**I really need to know which to make Yvonne, nice or a bit mean?**

**Genesis, over and out. (Reviews always apreciated, criticism always accepted and acted upon)**


	12. The Truth Behind The Myths

**Wow, this one took forever to write, all the ideas were there, but it was so slow getting to each plot point.**

**I have no idea if there even would be a plural of 'karadow' so I had to pretend it's an English word and use an 's' on the end – sorry for terrible interlingual grammar.**

**And by God some of the research in this was annoying! But, it did help a lot with providing accurate (can you say that about a myth/fairytale?) background info for a certain sssomebody.**

* * *

01:03 AM, and Conor has finally fallen asleep. He's been having pity-parties every night since Rainbow broke up with him. I'm not even sympathetic anymore, I actually want to bash their heads together until he mans up, and she realises he would never cheat on her.

Seriously, it's just _annoying_. It doesn't keep me awake or anything, but it does prove to me that Elvira broke something in my brother when she left – the old Conor would have taken some form of action by now.

But, at the moment, I'm glad of his routine, because it informed me the exact second I could start sneaking out.

I went to bed in my clothes, it's not hard to cover the fact up, since that's quite literally what you do, so all I have to do is put my shoes on, and leave. Simple, especially since I know where all the creaky floorboards are from living here my whole life.

My only obstacle is Sadie, who, even if she knows where I'm going, will feel the need to follow me. Loyalty can sometimes be an infuriating virtue. Speaking of my gorgeous golden friend, she pads into view just as I enter the kitchen, a sleepy snuffle is the only sound she makes.

"Good girl." I whisper as I pull on my boots.

A faint whine as she rubs her nose against my thigh.

"I'll see you later Sadie-girl." I murmur, crouching down to give her ears a thorough stroke, just the way she likes. "I'm going to see my friend, and some people who might be able to help people like me."

With a slightly quizzical look, and a grudgingly acceptant grunt, Sadie gives my hand one last lick and trundles off back to her spot on the rug in the living room. I watch her flop down onto the floor, and begin snoring softly as soon as she hits. I smile.

Softly, I open the front door, and close it behind me, I don't have to lock it – no-one bothers around here, it would be pointless trying to steal anything, you'd be discovered the next day. Tiptoeing my way to the gate is a challenge, as gravel is not the quietest of things to walk on at the best of times, and in the middle of the night, whilst trying to be sneaky – well, lets just say it sounds like an avalanche with every step.

I eventually make it down the path, and reach the top of the small cliff which leads to the cove. I take a deep breath of the sea air, letting it fill my lungs with its life and salty scent. For a while I just stand atop the cliff, not daring to go down, because I know that if I do, Faro will be waiting for me, and I have no idea if I'm ready for any of the things the past week or so have flung my way.

_Well, only one way to find out,_ I think to myself, beginning to scramble over the side, searching blindly for the first of the footholds. _I have done this hundreds of times, I have nothing to worry about, I know exactly where the bottom is, it isn't going to suddenly sink a few miles deeper into the Earth, physics says it can't._

Scylla tuts _"Ssshame on you Sssapphire. Nothing elsess in your life obeysss sssciencesss, why should the floor beneath you?"_

_No!_ I grip the rock as hard as I can, just in case the weak spell would have me fall – it doesn't, but it is _very_ close. I shudder with it as I continue making my way down the cliff-face.

I reach the ground with a wave of satisfaction "Hah!" I whisper, tapping the sandy ground with my boot "Physics defies you." there is no reply, and I cannot describe how grateful I am about it.

But now I have to make the complete decision. One step takes me in sight of the sea, and Faro will surely notice me, if he hasn't already.

_No, no I can't do this._ My heart pounds in time with the thoughts, _If I really and truly fall in love with Faro, my tiny hold on my life will fall away completely and all I'll want will be to become Mer so I can be with him, and then Mum will be so depressed, and Sadie will think I've abandoned her and pine for me, and Conor will hate me forever because he'll know, and he'll try to expose Ingo again and have me cut up by—_

_Sapphire, peace._

I nearly faint in surprise at the intrusion of my thoughts, but the shock doesn't last long. "FARO!" I yell in annoyance, stepping out of the shadows and into the bright moonlight.

_Oh my __**God**__…_ I think, trying to hide it from his superior mental abilities. _He's __**beautiful**_.

The silvery light falls perfectly on his brown hair, making it shine purest black and let out rainbows of radiance like the scales of tropical fish. His tail glistens every shade I can think of, from golden-brown and aubergine to flame-green and iridescent white.

_He's shining, and perfect, and beautiful, and he can read my mind… Why am I refusing that?_

…

I smile at the sight of her. I can hear echoes of her thoughts, and though they are pleasant, it is the image of how she sees me that brings the joy. In her mind I am a glowing, flawless creature – much like the mythical mermaids she knew growing up – and she has somehow erased all of my imperfections, a talent I have yet to master for any but her.

"Hello Sapphire," I murmur, letting the wind bring my words to her.

She smiles slightly, the faint reddening of her cheeks so totally endearing that I cannot help but want her to come to my side all the faster. She is completely entrancing in the moonlight, its shine turns her hair a mystical ruby red with hints of gold.

It suddenly occurs to me that it is strange how I depict her. The Mer have no use or desire for jewels, but that seems to be all I can use to describe her rarity, her preciousness, her… I give up on that sentence, what matters is she's Sapphire, and she's _mine_.

"Faro…" she whispers, glancing nervously at the water, then at the sky. "There's something I've wanted to ask you for years, but there never seemed to be an appropriate time." I cannot help my grin at the pink of her skin, it is just too adorable to be denied.

"I've told you before, you don't need to be shy of asking me anything." I remind her as she steps onto the smallest of the rocks leading up to our spot.

"Why is it called 'Ingo'?"

I laugh "Why is it called 'England'?"

"Angle-land." she answers with a roll of her eyes, "The Angles were a tribe who conquered Britain at some point, and renamed it Angle-land, which became England at some point."

"All right." _You win that one,_ I think in annoyance, but hide both the thought and the feeling. "Why is it called Britain then?"

Sapphire shrugs "Dunno, but I can find out sometime if you want. I only know England cos it was on _Horrible Histories_."

I stare at her blankly, embarrassed at my ignorance, yes I know what the words mean, but the way she's said them doesn't make sense.

"Oh…" she says upon noticing my expression "It's a TV show, based on a series of books which taught kids about the past with funny stories and songs and poems and stuff. It's really random, but you actually remember it."

A truly ridiculous image floats through her mind, of a human man with abnormally coloured stripes on his skin, and feathers coming out of his head. The man sings and frolicks amongst eerie faces made of rock, along with two females performing stabbing motions in time with him. With the changing background it is a truly bizarre and completely nonsensical scene.

"And you… enjoy watching things like this? You learn from it?" I ask her, unable to believe it.

"Well, yeah, it's funny. That's not the most educational song, but I'd never heard of Pachacuti before that…" she studies me "The man was Pachacuti, he was kinda like Ervys but hundreds of years ago."

I scoff "From what I saw, he was more like a bird than a warrior."

She rolls her eyes "Faro, don't be pedantic, he was singing about the horrible things he does, they were trying to show that he was a psycho who enjoyed killing people!"

"Oh, then yes, I'll agree with the comparison then."

"So…" she grins "Why _is_ it called Ingo?"

"Umm…" _Uh oh. Need an answer. Need to give her an answer or look like a complete idiot for not knowing._ "I think it's a reference to diving, like the expression In-I-Go?"

Sapphire sputters then bursts into full-on laughter.

"What's so funny?" I ask, only for her to laugh harder.

"You killed my father, prepare to die!" she gasps out between fits of giggles.

_What? No, Mortarow was the one who stabbed Mathew, I would've saved him if I could…_

She peers at me through sparkling eyes, still chuckling a little "I didn't mean that Faro, I was quoting _The Princess Bride_." she pauses only minutely before explaining "There's a character called Inigo, and that's his most famous line."

"Oh…" I murmur, thoroughly confused, but acceptant of the fact "All right…" searching for something else to talk about, I remember her secrecy earlier "What was it you wouldn't tell me earlier?"

"Hmm? Oh… that, um. Remember we met that woman, Yvonne?"

I smile "Yes, she helped prevent the discovery of the Mer."

"Yeah, her, well, do you remember she gave me a card? And told me to phone the number on it?"

"Yes…"

"I did, and the person on the other end said we're gonna be found by someone tomorrow who'll lead us wherever they do their thing. But, I don't know if we should go, she was a complete stranger, should we really trust her?"

…

"You let me lead you into another world, and risk your life in entering it in just as much time knowing each other." Faro says, taking my left hand from where it rests on my thigh.

"But that's different." I object before thinking.

Faro grins "How so Sapphire?"

"Well, um, well, part of me knew I was safe entering Ingo, I guess." then, because I'm not brave enough to say it, I only loosely protect the thought: _I knew I'd be safe with you_.

Faro continues to smile as he trails patterns over my palm _Yes_, he thinks to me, following the thought with a pulse of protective desire, _I will protect you forever, even after the last drop of blood leaves my body._

"Faro, don't." I murmur sadly.

"But it's true." his hold on my hand tightens with his earnestness as those penetrating green eyes loom ever closer "How can I make you understand, Sapphire?" he whispers, stroking my right cheek with his free left hand.

"Understand what?"

"What you are to me. How can I make you understand what karadow means?"

"Faro, I know what it means, it translates as 'beloved'."

"That's what the word means, yes," he admits, frowning thoughtfully "but not the concept."

…

She doesn't understand, but I knew she wouldn't, she's never seen or experienced it before. I have, I remember how my parents looked at each other, even if I can't remember what they looked like.

Though I'll never say it to her, it's obvious her father and mother were not truly meant to be. Or else why would one have left, and the other moved on? Karadows are for life, forever, for eternity.

"Faro, I think you'll find I _have_ seen it before." she huffs, taking her hand back and folding her arms. "One of the mixed-bloods around here happens to be like that with her husband. I could never understand why, but that's how soulmates work, I guess."

_Oops, guess she heard that thought…_

"Faro, are you seriously trying to tell me we're soulmates?" Sapphire does not sound convinced "Or karadows or whatever you want to call it?"

Ouch. "Yes, but somehow I get the idea you don't agree."

"Because I can't!" she exclaims frantically.

"Why?" I challenge her, fists clenching in frustration.

"Faro, you know damn well why we can't be together!" the words burst from her mouth in perfect syncronisation with tears from her eyes. She swipes at the drops angrily, then hugs herself, closing her eyes – shutting everything out for a moment.

…

"_Ohh, poor Sssapphire. Human girl lovess Mer boy, and we all know how terribly the true tale of Byghan Morvoren ended: pain and desspair, doomed to be lossst in the ether, trapped in limbo, unable to live, unable to die." _Scylla's voice for once does not scare me utterly, it is filled with pity and an attempt at companionship which nearly has me cry even harder.

_How do you know that?_ I ask her, blocking the thought from Faro's hearing.

"_Do not let curiosssity desstroy you. Be sssertain before you make ssuch choicesss."_ is her morose answer _"I wissh no harm on you Ssapphire, a'm hwerik. Forgive me."_

…

Sapphire is shaking, and the tears continue to drip from her eyes.

_Sapphire,_ I murmur into her distressed mind, _you're cold a'm keresik_.

She opens her eyes in surprise, "I am?" she blinks away the droplets of sadness.

"Yes," I inform her, gesturing to the pebbley texture of the visible skin of her arms.

As if being informed of the fact made it real, she begins to shiver properly, feeling the dampness of her clothes. "Faro?" she asks, teeth chattering a little "How come the Mer don't feel the cold?"

I shrug "I could say it's because we're 'genetically superior' to humans, but I'm not going to."

"Why Faro, how gracious of you to only _suggest_ that my species are the prototype to your finished product." she mumbles the words as she rubs her arms.

Having pushed off from the rock, I tug at her trouserleg, bidding her follow me into the water. She does so with a relieved sigh as whatever magic Ingo has over her body steals the cold away. I take her hand in weird symmatry of her first entry in Ingo, and gently tow her along beside me.

"What's a 'prototype'?" I ask, flipping sideways so I can watch her whilst swimming.

Those perfectly brown eyes raise to meet mine, coming out of the deep recesses of her mind with a physical flinch. "Um, kinda the first try at something. Like if someone wanted to make, let's say a package for something. First they'd have to make a prototype to see if their designs and blueprints work, and if they liked it, they'd keep it, but usually they'll find ways to improve it." she grins "Mum always said men were the prototypes of the female race." now frowns in thought "But what would that make you? If the Mer are better than humans, but women are better than men… Oh this is making my head hurt."

…

Faro laughs at the irresolute conclusion "Your mind is frozen Sapphire."

"I am not _that_ cold." I answer, giggling a little at the idea.

"Then why are you laughing?"

I shrug, rolling my shoulders "Dunno, you're infectious."

He shakes his head at me, sobering quickly "_You_ are delirious."

"I am not!" I object, huffing as I fold my arms and stick out my tongue.

"Come here." Faro says lightly, gesturing to the space just in front of him.

"No. I'm fine Faro, really." I murmur, a grin still plastered to my face, hurting my cheeks "I don't feel temperature in Ingo."

"So you don't warm up either." he deduces, coming to my side with one small – and entirely enviable – flick of his tail.

"Hey!" I try to object as he removes my jacket.

"Shush." he begins to rub my arms with his palms, bringing back memories of a certain time in the Artic when he'd done the same with my hands.

"Faro…"

"Shh…"

"Faro." I say again, more forcefully.

"What Sapphire?" he asks, pausing only for a moment.

"You said once that your mum taught you to do this?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"How did she know it?" I almost whisper the question, because there is only one reasonable excuse for any of the Mer to know how to create warmth – because a human needed it.

Faro frowns "Sapphire…"

"Sorry," I smile apologetically "Forget it." But I won't, it's just given me a great insight into Faro's family. His dad must've been human once. "So, what should I do about it?" I ask by way of trying to change the subject.

"About what?"

"The movement/group/club/whatever thing." I clarify.

He shrugs, somehow deftly sliding my jacket back onto my body easier than even I could have done. "It's your decision Sapphire."

I roll my eyes "I'm not good at making decisions." I point out.

"Still doesn't mean you should ask me to make them for you though."

"I wasn't, I was asking for your opinion which might've helped me decide – though God knows that hasn't helped with college…"

"Sapphire." Faro puts in before I can go off on a long rant about how much I'm struggling with the human world right now. "They might even be able to help you with that."

"I doubt it."

"Well, you won't know unless you go."

I playfully hit his chest "You've spent way too much time with Saldowr."

"Of course, I am his—"

"Scholhyk and holyer." I say in complete unison with him.

"Don't mock me Sapphire." but he's smiling as he speaks, removing the threat from his words. "But, there is something I'd like to point out."

"Which is?"

"If you do go, you'll find more individuals of mixed blood."

"I did think of that, but they said I'd be found first thing in the morning. Do you have any idea how early that is? Like 5 a.m.!"

"What is 'a.m.'?"

"Um, I can never remember what it stands for, but it means in the morning – afternoon is p.m. I always thought p.m. should be the morning cos then a.m. would be after-midday and p.m. would be prior-midday. But I know the 'm' doesn't stand for 'midday' so it can't be anything like that…" I trail off as he stares at me "Sorry, I'm babbling again. I've told you before that you're welcome to stop me."

Faro grins in the moonlit water "And I've told you before that I won't, but now I'm really curious what a.m. and p.m. actually stand for. I told you you come out with interesting things when you babble."

I blush, not entirely sure if that's a compliment, but my blood taking it as one. "Well, I can look it up for you when I go home again."

"Please do, I find time fascinating."

I blink in surprise. Faro, one of the Mer, who hold human concepts such as time in complete contempt, just said, in all seriousness… 'I find time fascinating'. _Oh my God… Wow_.

"What?" he asks in bemusement as to my reaction. "_What_?" he asks again when I remain silent.

Eventually I can't help it anymore, I burst out laughing. "Even, even you, I never thought… I never thought I'd hear any of you…"

Faro just raises his eyebrows at me.

"I never thought I'd hear any of the Mer say that." I mumble finally.

"Hmph." Faro folds his arms and rolls his eyes "You underestimate me Sapphire, I am not so stereotypical. Many human concepts are worthwhile if you think about them."

"Really?"

"Yes." he affirms with a growing smile. "While you were gone I compared the two lifestyles while taking into account the Mer's advantages and humanity's disadvantages and realised that you humans are entirely amazing. Without currents you've adapted the knowledge of animals and use of metals to make things capable of moving you faster than your legs can take you. Without telepathy – is that what you call it? – you have used 'science' to transmit your voices and images over long distances, further even than the Mer can achieve."

"Oh my _God_…" I mutter to myself partway through his speech, realising that Faro really, truly means what he's saying.

"What the Mer have through nature, you humans created from nothing, just by observation!"

"Faro." I break in "What about all that bad stuff you would tell me for years? The poison and pollution?"

"Well yes, that is bad, but you're right, I've heard so many stories about what you're all trying to do to stop it."

"What about divers?" I ask, uncertain why I'm trying to provoke his previous attitude – fear maybe, of this new Faro?

"Well, um, they do damage things when they're not careful, but I've heard so many of the instructions they give out to try and lessen damage – really, I don't mind so much anymore. Humans are astounding Sapphire! Yes, I still don't like bringing Air into Ingo, but I can see why now. You're exploring and learning. I never realised just how much humans love to learn before I met you with all your questions. I can even appreciate schools after some thought! Because you can't learn through memory sharing, it has to be taught to you slowly, and if there were no schools your teachers and parents would never have any peace from your questions!"

I smile "Faro?"

"Yes, Sapphire?" he's positively thrumming with excitement, what of I'm not sure – discovery perhaps.

"Why all the sudden thinking?"

"I had nothing else to do."

"Couldn't you go see Saldowr and tell him what was going on?"

"I did, just to inform him we'd resolved the Conor issue, but… Saldowr and I aren't on the best terms at the moment."

"Oh…" I frown, unable to think why the once-unbreakable bond between the two had weakened "Why?"

"Difference of opinion." Faro answers ambiguously.

"About what?"

He shakes his head, refusing to reply, but despite my curiosity, I promise myself that I won't force one from him.

"So…" I ask slowly, trying to muffle a small yawn "What now? We have until dawn."

Faro grins "Though there are many other things I would rather say, what you're going to do, is sleep."

"Hey! I do _not_ come into your magical underwater world just to go to sleep! I can do that in my normal, boring, human bed thank you very much!"

"Sapphire, the moon has travelled through the sky to such an extent that there is only a matter of hours till the sun rises to meet it. If you wish to have even half a mind tomorrow, you need to go to sleep."

…

It isn't hard to make Sapphire sleep, even against the will of her mind. All it takes is some soothing patterns trailed across her back, and the lullaby my parents always sang to me.

But, even as her eyelids slowly close, she slurrs "You're gonna pay for that Faro."

I can't help but smile at the teasing threat, and the fact she is so perfect. Surely it's some sort of magic to be allowed to touch her, let alone hold her and keep watch whilst she's sleeping?

Admittedly, my philosophy for getting her to sleep applies to me as well, but I don't intend to. Sapphire must have constant protection, I can't ever let anything hurt her again. It is also an excuse to just look at her, the shimmer of her hair in the faint moonlight, the contrast of shadows and highlights on skin which now looks the colour of white sand.

But watching the beauty and intracacies of her hair as it flows about us both has the same affect on me as song had on her. It takes very little time before I too feel slumber's call, and grudgingly let it pull me away to the world of dreams.

…

I am dancing. I dance more beautifully than any other creature on, above or below the land. My feet are soundless as they flit across the floor, taking me in graceful leaps and spins across the stone beneath me. I turn in a pirouette and jump in the form of a grand jeté to land in an elegant curtsey of respect to those I perform for.

Those who watch me could not be more varied. Some sit regally and tall, such as the imposing forms of Granny Carne and Saldowr, who for whatever reason sit side-by-side on beautifully contrasted thrones. Some bask lazily on chaises, like Conor, Rainbow, Sadie, Faro and Morowrgi. And some watch me intensely, like the unexpected Mum, Roger, Elvira and… Dad.

_Well, this is a dream, so anything can happen,_ I think to myself as I rise fluidly from the floor to their varyingly polite or enthusiastic applause. From third position I flow backwards in a collection of dainty steps leading up to a perfect 360° reverse assemblé, intending to land in an arabesque then fall into my final curtsey.

I don't. My encore is distrupted by a stabbing agony that races up my leg from the second my foot touches the ground. My landing is ruined as I crumple to the floor with the pain in my lower body, the breath leaving me in surprise.

I look up, expecting someone to come over and help me, or at least ask if I'm all right. But no-one does, because there's no-one there, the familiar and trusted – Elvira, Roger and Mordowrgi possibly not – faces have all faded into an oncoming fog.

"Now you feel the pain of Byghan Morvoren, learn from her mistakes, and don't get in too deep Ssapphire." a sad voice calls through the mist. "You're drowning already, and you don't even realisse it." The lisp is fainter, but still there. Scylla.

"What are you doing here?" I demand, a distinct change from the gentle ballerina I had been portraying. Or at least, I think I said it, but she doesn't answer.

"The sstory you were told as children, and all its varients were mere metaphors for one of the true-blooded Mer becoming human. The pain was of the lossss of freedom, original form and home, the inability to return the way you came. The Little Mermaid was not truly rendered mute, just ssimply ssilenced by a language barrier and the fact no-one cared to lissten to her. You think your prince will ssave you? Think again, conssider your life with love but without friends, family, or home?"

I shake my head at the miserable life she describes. _Surely being in love is supposed to make everything better? That's what we're taught from childhood, from fairytales to teen romances we're told that love finds a way and makes its own happy endings._

"Well it doessn't! Love is wonderful, but don't rely on it, it can't alwayss ssave you. Do not put your life in the hands of love, they're unreliable."

I stare into the grey surrounding me, searching for some sign of her, hoping for one glimpse so as to discover which myth portrayed her correctly.

"Don't even try Ssapphire, my body was lossst to me lifetimes ago, stolen by the Guardian of Ingo under the pretense of setting me free. That _traitor_ trapped me forever, it's _her_ fault we're stuck together like this."

_Guardian of Ingo… 'Her'? But Saldowr's male!_

"No body can live forever, even that of one of the Protectors of the worlds. The title is passed on when the current Guardian feels it is time to go to Limina, usually after about three or four lifetimes. The Guardian of my time, of my home, was female, and I was her scolhyk."

_Oh this is just too weird, the idea that a monster from myth had a __**life**__ before she became infamous._

"All monsters become that way for a reason." she whispers, "Watch and you will see how I came to be." as she speaks, images appear on the dark grey clouds encompassing me.

First shows the picture of a young Mer girl, bluish skin, flowing black hair, and silvery eyes, full-blooded Mer. Next she has her head bowed before an elderly Mer woman – presumably the Guardian – who has a hand on the young Scylla's head.

"I was so proud that day, I'd been the first back from completing the Crossing, and she'd been waiting for me. Her name was Kernik and she'd been watching me my whole life, I'd seen it, and always hoped to know the reason. She said I had great potential, and with a little training could command the seas perhaps more expertly than she herself."

The following clip portrayed a Scylla my own age, practising at Kernik's side, twisting water into whirlpools with just a flick of her wrist.

Scylla's voice seemed to smile with the memory "Ahh, that was a wonderful day, she was so proud of me, said I would be a just and wise Guardian when my time came, a worthy and capable Protector of Ingo."

_So what went so horribly wrong?_ I think quietly and morosely to myself.

"Well," her voice is hard now, and the lisp returns "I'll sshow you!" the next image is of Scylla staring raptly at a human man on a beach, repairing a wooden boat, singing to himself. "As I'm sssure you know by now, sssinging iss sssacred to the Mer. We only sssing for thosess we love, or wissh to have love uss."

_Oh dear, I think I know where this is going._

"You guesssed right," she hisses the words in anger "I sssang to him, falling completely in what I thought wass love. I'd never heard any other man'ss voice than my father'ss, and wasss enthralled."

_So, the Little Mermaid, and Scylla, from our stories, are the same person?_

"Yesss. I am well-remembered by your people, but if only they'd got the factss right! I returned to Kernik and begged to know how to become human, to find him again. She told me how to make the change, but warned that he did not love me. I was ssso ssstupid, thinking that I could make him! …I performed the sspell alone becaussesss sssshe wouldn't help me…" Her fury at herself is somehow familiar, pitiful and scary at the same time. I am very glad I cannot see her expression.

Another image, of the now-human Scylla crying in pain on the same beach her 'love' had been on before.

Back to a wretchedly melancholy tone "I don't know what went wrong, I can only presume I wasn't powerful enough to do it properly. My legs were too weak, and every step burned. I don't know how I did it, but I found him, and his family looked after me for a while, fed me, clothed me, but none could understand a word I said. I was desperate so tried other ways of communicating: I mimed my feelings and danced and sang, but nothing worked, they just complimented my fluid movements and voice."

The memories are heartbreaking as they flow around me, and I see that my earlier agony had been the same pain she felt with every step. I have to feel awed by her bravery to continue dancing and walking with _that_ awaiting with every step.

"Thank you for your sympathy, but at the time I didn't care, all I wanted was for them to know how much I loved him. After some time – I've forgotten how long – I returned to the beach to beg Kernik's help, she said there was nothing she could do, as he was human and outside of her abilities. In despair I beseeched her to be allowed to return to Ingo, to my family and her service, to escape the 'pain' I thought he'd caused me."

An image of Kernik shaking her head, and Scylla's legs collapsing beneath her in grief.

"For those of pure blood, the change is irreversible, she told me that I could never have my Mer body back, and would live in pain for the rest of my life as punishment for my disobedience."

The despairing Scylla rose from her place on the floor, and ran into the next wave, attempting to drown herself, whilst Kernik watched wistfully.

"For whatever reason she saved my life, somehow removing my soul or whatever from my body, by turning my physical shell into water and foam. She said she was setting me free to live as a spirit of the water, as an apology. I still did not forgive her, and fled." The images vanish, but she continues to speak "You know the story from there, I ended up discovering that I still need energy and must leech it from others, even without intending to, earning me my reputation for devouring sailors alive…"

The fog begins to recede, fading into normal sleeping blackness.

"Ssapphire? One more thing before we end this dream."

_Yes?_

"I wanted to thank you for unlocking my memories. I had forgotten myself, Ssapphire. I am grateful for you reminding me that I was not always like this. It hurts to know what I've done now that my mind is returned, and it hurts to know what I'm doing to you, even now, but at least I can ask that you forgive me."

_I forgive you,_ I think to her, sending along the full extents of my pity and desire to be able to help her.

"Thank you."

That dream ends, pulling me straight into another.

…

I know at once that something is wrong. I can't find a reason for it in the sleeping blackness that surrounds me, but I have a deep sense of foreboding that is both inside my mind and pulsing against it from the outside.

Sapphire is in danger, and now, even in dreams I am commanded deep in my soul to help her.

I am pulled into her mind, ready to defend her dream-self, and end the nightmare. Only to find it ended for me, by an entirely unexpected source.

"Kowethes Moryow!" a musical but loud voice calls into the recesses of sleep. "Sapphire, wake up. Faro, difuna!"

…

I stir from sleep slowly, mumbling weary nonsense and weakly pushing at the thing trying to wake me.

But the voice is persistent "Kowethes, it is time to go."

"Nuhm, s'nuut." is probably what it sounds like I'm saying.

"Sapphire," a different mouth calls, laughing a little "I told you you'd be tired."

"Shut up Faro." I answer, clearly and without much effort as I roll over in the sand, turning my back to him and attempting to fall back asleep.

"Come _on_." he urges, taking hold of my hand and pulling at it.

"You can tug my arm off if you want, I'm sleeping." I mumble, trying to take my arm back regardless of my words.

"Broder, hwoer, it is time to go, you'll both be late." the lilting voice points out, and I know I should recognise it.

"Late for what?" I ask in annoyance at my attempts being foiled.

"Is your memory so bad Sapphire? Do you not remember your engagement for this morning?"

_Engagement? What?!_ I sit bolt upright to see Faro smirking at my reaction to – as it turns out – Ligeia's words.

"In this context, engagement is used to mean appointment, not the marital status." Ligeia whistles cheerfully.

"But it had the desired effect." Faro says, just as happily as the dolphin.

"God, I don't understand morning people." I moan, rubbing my face to try and wake my eyes up even a little.

"You used to get up much earlier than Conor," Faro points out, and when I give him a confused glance he adds "Elvira told me."

"Yeah, okay, but I was like eleven, most kids get up earlier than the rest of the family would like."

What I refuse to say to Faro is that puberty has a habit of making teenagers want to sleep later, it's a scientific fact. It would just be weird to mention it to Faro who seems totally oblivious of the phenomenon of how females grow from baby to adult. Guess Mer don't do the Talk, and even if they did, getting it from Saldowr would be a fate worse than death.

"Saaaaappphiiire." Faro waves a hand in front of my face in a bid to get my attention "Are you coming?"

"You're evil, _both_ of you." I grumble as I push myself from the sand and into a float beside him.

Ligeia shakes her head, laughing quietly "Enough Sapphire, now, come along you two." and begins to swim away.

I groan at the idea of moving, but follow along languidly, enviously observing Faro's naturally faster and more effortless stroke. It takes less than a minute for Faro to slow a little, resorting to the tiniest flick of his tail to go the same speed as me. Challenged by the gesture, I kick a little harder, begging speed from my exhausted limbs yet receiving none.

My karer frowns "Sapphire, don't." he murmurs gently, reaching for my hand "Let me."

I reluctantly offer my left hand, which he takes in his with a smile, strengthening the swishes of his tail, he powers us both along, catching up with Ligeia in seconds.

…

Sapphire is still moaning about how tired she is, and the movement of her limbs in next to nonexistent. Exhaustion lines her face, the darkness under her eyes, and the way they're half-lidded even when focussing says legions more than her commentary. But the fact she's speaking is good, if she can still talk, it suggests still being able to think, and I get the feeling that whatever awaits at our destination will require a lot of her mental attention.

Yet, despite the good signs of her still paying attention to where we're going, the shaking of her hands is worrying. She too stares at them when she notices the direction of my gaze. Her neutral expression alters only the tiniest bit into a frown, so much that someone who did not know her so well would not even know it was there.

"Faro…" she ventures slowly, her voice soft.

"Yes Sapphire?" my words are just as quiet, gentled by the fragility in her eyes.

"You're holding my hand."

"So?"

"Even when saving my life, you've only ever held my wrist before a few days ago." she shrugs "It just occured to me is all."

"I can hold your wrist if you'd prefer." my voice is wistful, as it should be at the idea of such loss.

She shakes her head and smiles weakly "No." she squeezes my hand and it feels like a ray of sunlit warmth rushing through my body.

…

"Sorry," I apologise "I'm like this when I'm tired, I say any random thought that comes to mind. _You're_ lucky, _you_ don't get tired anywhere near so easily."

"I _do_." Faro tries to object.

"No you don't. The Mer metabolism or something is different so it takes you more exertion to feel tired or hungry. Remember, Saldowr said that once cos I asked how come I don't need food or sleep in Ingo very often."

Faro grins "Yes, I remember, but I'm weaker than the others Saph… not much better than a human." his normally-confident voice falters a little on that last.

"Faro," I counter, trying to conjure enthusiasm, but it's hard when I can barely keep my eyes open "You are part human, part Mer, so am I. If you can look at me and say it's a good thing, why can't you do the same with yourself?"

"I was raised thinking I was purely Mer."

"I never knew the Mer _existed_ until I was eleven."

"I was taught that humans are bad because they pollute the water."

I don't know why this next came to mind, or why I let it out of my mouth, but it happened anyway "God, this is just about your male pride isn't it?!"

"Enough!" comes Ligeia's lyrical whistle "Stop bickering the pair of you!"

And at exactly the same time, Faro and I point at each other yelling "He/She started it!" of course with the appropriate genders being the opposite of our own – if that makes sense.

"And I'm finishing it!" she turns to Faro "Mixed blood is nothing to be ashamed of, and even if it were, you cannot change it so there is no use whining." now to me "And you Kowethes Moryow, I would expect better of you, you are recognised for your compassion, so why are you purposely antagonising your karadow?"

We both look at her astonished, and again, in unison murmur the apologetic "Yes Ligeia." then mumble "Sorry." to each other.

Ligeia observes us for a moment, nods and turns to race ahead in the water, giving us the options of speed up or be left behind.

…

"Sorry Sapphire." I say again, swimming beside her as she has woken up a little more now, enough to swim anyway.

She nods "I'm sorry too Faro. I can't even remember why we started arguing. This is one of the reasons why I hate being woken up early cos I know how irritable I get when I'm sleepy."

I smile "Well, since I'm not tired, how's about I swim for you?"

She rolls her eyes, but gives me her hand, clasping our fingers together like a clam shell. On impulse I kiss the back of her hand, making her blink at me in amazement before I pull her to me and just embrace her for a moment, whispering "We need to stop fighting about this."

Her words spread warmth against my neck as she murmurs "Well, you could just say I'm right and let it go."

"What about when you're not right?"

"Oh! But Faro, I am always right!" she exclaims dramatically, attempting to pull away.

"I'll let you win, if you let me keep hold of you."

Sapphire is silent, as a loss for words. I smile as I catch us up to Ligeia.

…

The journey doesn't take anywhere near long enough. Well, in truth it probably takes over an hour, but it flies by whilst resting in Faro's arms, falling in and out of sleep, catching up on what I need.

It's bizarre, the way I feel being embraced by Faro is the same oneness as when riding with a dolphin. Our thoughts drift lazily between our minds, random and important alike as we discuss the strangest of things. I do not remember most of it, but the fact that Mordowrgi's name was never changed because of Dad's death is entirely memorable. The lasting name is given by the parent of the same gender as the child, which seems an interesting idea, but I still can't think why they do it like that. Surely one name to start with would be easier. I think I asked Faro his and Elvira's 'practise names', but he didn't know, and had never asked himself.

"Sapphire and Faro!" Ligeia calls from beside the entrance of an underwater cave or tunnel "We have arrived."

Faro and I separate, but keep hold of the other's hand as we follow Ligeia to whatever awaits us on the other side.

* * *

**So, yes, I was extremely tired whilst writing most of this, hence the recurring theme. And the way Sapphire is shown (grumbling, physical appearance, and random comments) are just how I am when not having had enough sleep.**

**I've no idea if Angle-land was ever explained on ****_Horrible Histories_****, I just used it as a reason for Sapphire to know that particular fact – I only added this little scene because it's been running round my head driving me mad!**

**Review cos you know you love me. :)**

**xxx GC**


	13. All Together

**Yay! Just did my first exams:  
Ethics & Philosophy - EASY! Finished an hour early and only had half a question I couldn't do.  
Physics – Umm, I'm pretty sure I failed it, I suck at the topic we were covering and couldn't even attempt half of it. (Thermistor... Coulomb... Pascal... ?)**

**Reading back to inspire myself, I realised that no-one commented on the naughty thing I did – look up what the WORD (not name, that comes up as a Jewish surname, completely without intention – but still, LOL) 'Kernik' means and you'll see!**

**Random thought that I want to point out (since I keep noticing it) that although Spanish, Welsh and Cornish/Mer all came about at different times in history, the endearments (even though slightly different meanings) have very similar sounds: Spanish – querida/querido, Welsh – cariad (cah-ree-ahh), Cornish/Mer – kerensa, keresik, karadow... And those are just the ones I know about and see regularly!  
I love languages, they're FASCINATING!**

**NOTE – Contains one of my favourite lines I've ever written! Try to guess which one!  
And, a great big change/observation is in here, you've been warned.**

* * *

Let it be known to all that I hate tunnels. I'm not scared of the dark, and I'm not claustrophobic, but somehow, when the two fears are combined, I start crying like a little girl. Okay, actually I'm not crying – yet – I'm just severely unhappy to be here.

"Sapphire?" Faro's voice comes to me through the gloom, but I cannot bear to turn my gaze in his direction – I don't want to see the ghoulish thing the dark has made of him.

"Yeah?" I sound like a mouse, squeaky and timid.

"Why so troubled? It's only a tunnel."

"I don't like tunnels! They're tiny and creepy and something bad always happens whenever I'm in one."

"Not to mention the eels going for your 'shoes'." He teases.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" I shriek, casting my eyes about frantically for any tiny glimpse of light to prove or disprove his mocking words.

"Ow!" Faro exclaims when one of my flailing arms smacks against his shoulder.

"Don't tease me then!" But despite all my yelling, a moment later I find myself clinging to his arm more powerfully than a limpet to a rock, reciting the words "I hate tunnels." over and over.

"Up here!" Ligeia sings from some niche in the ceiling that no-one could possibly see.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I whimper when I realise we're about to enter an even smaller passageway.

"It widens and brightens within moments Kowethes, come!"

…

It is _almost_ funny, the important word there being 'almost'. But more than amused, I feel sympathetic – I can't understand what scares Sapphire about dark holes in rock, they're perfectly natural and very safe in comparison to the rest of Ingo. Yet, she's repeating her fear of them endlessly, both aloud and in her mind.

Though it's endearing to know she's clinging onto me for comfort, it's not at all comfortable. It seems fright has made her stronger than a squid, and I'm fairly sure she's bruised my ribs with the strength of her grip around my chest.

"Come on Sapphy." I whisper, trying to pry her fingers from where they dig into the flesh of my abdomen, admittedly mostly because it hurts.

"No, nononononononono—"

"Sapphire, that is _enough_ of that." Ligeia huffs – which sounds rather peculiar for a dolphin – the vague shadow of her floating above our heads "It is only a short distance to our destination, and this is the only way by water."

"Oh God…" Sapphire mumbles miserably, "If anything eats me, I'm haunting you both, and not the quiet in-the-background type ghosting either, I'll be a full-on call-Ghostbusters _bitch_."

I just stared at the faint black smudge I knew to be her.

"Oh, come _on_! Even if you don't know about the movie references, surely you know about ghosts?!" she exclaims, getting very worked up about telling us the possible existence of souls who've somehow not gone to Limina, but managed to remain in this world instead.

However, Ligeia and I, after a quick and silent conversation, silently and gently swim through the rest of the passage.

"Wait… I'd swear it's just got lighter in… in he— FARO!"

…

_You complete and utter traitor! I said I didn't want to come through here_! I yelled silently at my cheeky boyfriend.

_Well, you can't be that scared if you didn't even notice. Don't be so dramatic Sapphire._ Was his cocky reply.

_I'm going to hit you._

_I'd like to see you try._

I do hit him, a deliberately strengthened smack to his stomach – which is still a little battered from his recent ordeals – but he just grunts and shrugs off the pain as if it's nothing.

_Men!_ I think exasperatedly to myself as I detach my arms from around Faro's torso and follow Ligeia through a light-filled hole that seems like way too many Near-Death-Experience thingies.

My first thought upon coming out the other side, is actually to the tune of _Poker Face_ by Lady Gaga. Because my first thought is: Mer, Mer, Mer, Mer… And so on, since there are a lot of them visible, at least a dozen in one glance. So many shiningly-beautiful-tailed and magically-blue-tinted-skinned sirens all gathered in one place – just makes you feel small and inadequate.

It's not very often I see more than three or four Mer at a time, the only occasions being a few Assemblies years ago and that one Gathering Faro and his friends somehow snuck me into – though I now suspect Guardian-of-Ingo-style magic to have been someway involved.

"_Yess. It is possible for the waterss to mask one's appearance – blur legs into a tail for instance."_ Scylla's voice is a shock, and makes me flinch in surprise, but not fear any longer, it would be weird to be scared of the Little Mermaid.

"Sapphire?" Faro asks, looking at me questioningly whilst holding out his left hand for me to take.

Shaking away my thoughtful haze I turn to look at him "Yeah?" I answer as I take his hand.

"What's so unusual about seeing many Mer together?"

"Nothing, it's just—" I silence myself and hide my thoughts from him. _They're all so beautiful and magical and I can't help but want to be so enchanting too._

_Sapphire, you are recognised as you are, do not wish to alter that. _But it seems in hiding my musings from Faro, I forgot to mask them from Ligeia.

_I can't help it._

…

She's looking at the Mer above her with something akin to both awe and envy, both of which I can understand to a certain extent, but still I don't want her to feel like that. I don't want Sapphire to feel threatened by the Mer – why would I, because as a species we're beautiful and entrancing? Why would I want my karadow to be that, something so natural and commonplace?

No, Sapphire is fine as she is. The tan of her skin is a golden sun in comparision to the Mer's blue moon. The warmth and bright allure of her eyes is so much friendlier than the cool magnetism of the Mer. The wild browns and reds of her hair, bouncing in Air and floating in Ingo, so much more intriguing and alive than the Mer's cascades of dull soulless locks.

Sapphire might not be beautiful and beguiling as the Mer, and her voice not as pure or ensnaring, but she is the most passionate, vibrant thing in existence, brighter than the sun, and most definitely warmer than the cold hearts of most of my people!

"Sapphire," I whisper, taking her hand since she's too absentminded at present to react to my gesture. "You're stalling, let's make our presence known keresik."

…

The return of Faro's voice breaks me from my admission to Ligeia, snapping me back to the reality of now.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I ask, having only heard his voice, not his words.

"I said that you're stalling, we should make it known that we're here if we're ever going to."

I smile at him "Well, I know how to make an entrance. Ligeia, if you would come here please?" she does, and I immediately bond my body to hers, whispering my intentions.

…

_What is she up to?_ I wonder for a moment as I obey her intstructions and silently surface to watch whatever it is she's doing.

It only takes a moment before I find out.

Ligeia charges the skin of the water, leaping through it with an elegant twist that has both dolphin and human letting out peals of musical laughter as they soar through the air then enter the water again silently.

Suffice to say, it certainly drew attention.

…

I detach myself from Ligeia, still giggling along with her at the boldness of our pronouncement as I swim the few feet back up to the surface.

It's actually one of the funniest sights I've ever seen as I blow the dripping hair from my eyes and rest my arms on a convenient ledge nearby. Everything in the room/cave/thing is staring at me, and I stare right back, glad to be given a chance to study the scene around me.

I'm currently floating in the watery half of an enormous cavern, which sparkles with some form of crystal, not to mention the reflections from the water. The other side is full of plants – though how they're alive without sunlight I'm not sure – and an intriguing number of animals, cats, dogs and at least three squirrels.

But more than the scenery or wildlife, it is the people that draw my attention, there are about twenty Mer as I've mentioned before – interspersed with a few dolphins and fish – at least as many humans, as well as something… else.

I stare at the humanoid things, trying to figure out what the hell they are.

"Now, Blue Gem, did no-one ever teach you it's rude to stare?" a familiar voice chastises as its owner comes into view. Yvonne frowns at me as she crouches to give me a hand, reluctantly I take it and let her pull me from the water.

"But Yv—"

"No! No names, surely you're not that moronic?!" Yvonne calms a little after her outburst "You will call me CQ if anything at all. We cannot afford to have our real names released unless absolutely necessary. Precautions and confidentiality, you understand?"

"Um, okay? But 'CQ'?" I ask, puzzled by the initials

"Cornwall Queen, as I am head of this chapter." Yvonne – sorry, _CQ_ – announces haughtily. "But you were wondering about our Earthy friends, were you not?" she turns a little and gestures to one of the things.

The thing approaches and yes, I do have to try exceedingly hard not to flinch. Whatever it is is just the tiniest bit creepy.

"Hello!" the she-thing – as it sounds like a girl – says cheerfully, voice high and chirpy as a bird's.

"Um, hi?" I answer, weirded out beyond belief.

"You're wondering what I am, aren't you?" she asks, her words fast like she's riding a sugar-rush.

"Yeah, you look like a sprigga—"

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!" she shrieks, backed up by nods from some of her fellow things. "THAT IS AN UGLY WORD WITH AN UGLY MEANING! I AM A DRYAD, NOT A—!" she pauses midspeech and takes two breaths, then returns to smiles but says seriously "Please don't call us by that word. Technically those myths were based on us, but still we don't like the comparison to those evil things. Call us Green Men or Women if you wish, but the term we use is Dryad." she glances around, brown eyes searching for something, "I'm Kelila, by the way," she mentions absently, still looking for whatever it is.

"Um, yeah, I'm Sa— Blue Gem, apparently."

Kelila laughs "Yes, you are, blue for the water, gem for Earth, it is a very clever code name from what CQ says about you, and this proves it."

"Huh?" I blink at her blankly.

"Well, you're part Earth dummy, otherwise you wouldn't understand what I'm saying, cos I'm speaking the language of my people."

_Okay, this is wayyy too reminiscent of when I met Faro, I don't wanna go through this all again!_

"You're friend over there, doesn't have a clue what we're saying, apparently we sound like the wind and birds tweeting, that's what the other naiads said."

"Naiads?"

"Oh, yes, you call them 'Mer' don't you? Our word is naiad, neriad, oceanid, take your pick."

I burst into laughter again, spraying droplets of water over Kelila "This is all going into Greek mythology again!"

"Sigh," she murmurs "No, we did not name ourselves after their stories, they named and originated their stories on us, they were a perceptive people who saw value in studying and interacting with my ancestors."

…

Sapphire is doing something with that _thing_. It looks like they're talking, but I don't hear words, not even strange human words, all I hear is a twisted version of dolphin music, and a sighing sound like the waves, but not quite the same.

The thing is Sapphire's height, with brown eyes set in a bizarrely coloured face, somehow both green and brown at the same time, like some seaweeds. The thing is wearing a 'dress', but made from 'leaves', huge and small, bound together by some thin and white substance. But weirdest of all about the creature is its hair – if it can be called that – which seems to be messier than Sapphire's at the worst of times, and infused with glittering stone fragments, leaves and small flowers.

A Mer girl perhaps a little older than I appears at my side, smiling "Wondering what the thing is?" she asks, giggling a little at my expression.

"Yes, and what it's doing to my kares."

"Your, your kares?" the girl says, mystified.

"Yes."

"You're karer of a _human_?" her eyes widen in surprise.

"Yes." my voice takes on a slightly defensive and aggressive tone, and it takes effort to not clench my fists or lash my tail a little in annoyance.

"Well, uh, the thing is a Spriggan, and they're talking – doesn't sound like it, does it?"

Since that's all I needed to know, I ignore the girl as she continues to speak to me, turning my attention back to Sapphire.

…

"Well, Kelila, I think we've proved the point we needed to prove now." Yvo— CQ says, tapping Kelila's hazel shoulder.

"Okie-dokie!" Kelila grins, showing teeth that seem to be made of quartz or crystal – as they're slightly see-through – and walks back to the plants she was tending beforehand.

"So, now do you see what All Together is about?" CQ asks.

"Uh, creeping out teenagers who thought way too many myths existed already?"

She scowls at me "A little maturity please, and some respect for the principles of this organisation. All Together exists to improve relations between the Mer, Humans and Dryads, and get them all working together and helping each other. Now do you 'get it'?" she uses extremely sarcastic air quotes around the phrase.

"Hey, don't forget making friends and learning new skills!" another recognisable voice calls.

I turn in the direction of it and see what I'd been expecting, the smiling face of Gloria Fortune, and something I hadn't, her husband Richard.

I stare at him, because I could understand Gloria being here, what with her Mer blood, but why him?

"Little, tiny bit of Earth blood honey," Gloria says before I even ask. "It's how we met, at one of these meetings, not this chapter, the one near London. We were working together on a project about climate change and the effects on the weather."

"It's how I got into meteorology." Richard adds.

"Oh, um, wow." Oh God, brain overload, if I see any more people I know I might just collapse from all the info. "So, why the code name Best Odds?" I ask Gloria, desperate for some escape from all this weirdness.

"How else would you win a," she lowers her voice and whispers in my ear "Glorious Fortune? Get it?"

I nod, "Yeah, okay, are all of them that ridiculous?"

"Pretty much, your friend is Seven Colours, I mean, how easy is that to guess?"

"Wait! Rai— is here?"

"Of course," Richard smiles beside his wife "she's the Earth prodigy, discovered herself by understanding a dog if I remember right."

I get a flash of suspicion "That dog wouldn't happen to be Sadie, would it?"

Gloria bites her lip "Um, yes? During the flood of St Pirans."

"Oh God…" All this time, all this time she'd known, and never even told me. _Why? Why didn't she tell me? Why didn't Rainbow even mention in passing this group thing she went to?_ Well, it did explain her regular absence on weekends, and the thoughtful look when she spent time with Sadie… _But still, why didn't she ever say anything?_ "What… What about her brother?" I whimper the words as I sink to the floor, unable to cope with all of these secrets and coincidences and epiphanies.

"No," Yvonne's harsh voice appeared from behind me "We tried a few times in each direction, but he's a complete human, nothing there. He's aware of us, but is sworn to secrecy." she chuckles "Speaking of humans, that reminds me of something I think we should tell you."

"CQ, _no_, we discussed this, she's not ready." Gloria objects with Richard nodding along his agreement. "All of this is overwhelming enough as it is."

"The child deserves to know what she is!" Yvonne snaps.

"Well give her a chance to recuperate from the Dryads at least before you bring out the big guns!"

"You think the lack of humanity in her is the big surprise?! Wait till we test her, see what she can do, then having not a drop of human blood will seem like nothing."

"CQ! Stop it! That's not fair." Gloria yells whilst Richard crouches down to my level, trying – unsuccessfully – to attract my attention.

_I'm not human… How can that be? I'm definitely not Mer or Dryad, so I must be human. What else could I possibly be?! No, this is ridiculous, I have two legs and two arms and a family full of humans. I am human, I always have been and always will be unless I decide to become Mer at some point. I am, I am I am…_

So why does my conviction fade each time I think it?

"_I'm ssorry Ssapphire, but she's right. You've even been told before, you just chose to hear it differently. You are half and half: Earth and Sea, Land and Ingo, Dryad and Mer. Not Air and Ingo, human and Mer, not human at all, it's why I'm fused to you, why you ssurvived."_

I shrink in fear at her words, made tiny by all these crowding accusations as to what I am.

"I told you not to tell her that!" Gloria shouts at CQ, but I barely hear it, her voice is distant and weak, shrouded by mist and the haze surrounding me like a cloak.

All three adults are yelling, another, younger person steps in and contributes volume as well, only making me drift further away from them all.

I blink so many times, trying to clear the fog from my mind and my eyes, trying to make sense of any of this.

_Sapphire…_

The word floats through my head, soft and gentle, not demanding to be heard. I sit and study it for a while, trying to make sense of it, whatever it is. It takes an immeasurable length of time before I realise people are trying to address me.

Or perhaps just one person, Mer… whatever.

_Sapphire, what's wrong?_

_Everything,_ I reply desolately. It is an unfair amount of effort to even think the word around the unbearable silence of my mind.

I don't know how I manage it, but I find myself crawling numbly towards Faro, the familiar comfort of him. Surely if anything can make this make sense, it's him, the epitome of certainty and confidence.

…

Sapphire flops into my arms where I wait for her, sat on the ledge. The exhaustion and sheer misery she feels pulses out from her almost visibly. Currents of despair and confusion flow in her dulled eyes. Her face is cold beneath my fingertips when I stroke her cheek, trying to coax words from her trembling lips. The life has gone out of her.

"Sapphire, keresik, please, talk to me." I whisper the words, yet still she flinches at the sound, pressing her face into my neck and forcing me to hold her with the cold sadness she radiates.

Realising she's not going to speak, I venture into her mind again – though from her outward appearance, it's one of the last places anyone would want to go. Depression swirls through her psyche, memories lay disorganised like they've been searched through at random, and spiky edges of hurt are everywhere.

Just what could the humans have said to do this to her? How could anything steal her passion for life just with words? Surely words are not strong enough to defeat the light inside Sapphire, and if they can be, I want to know what words!

A jumble of thoughts wash into me, twisted together in so many tangles they aren't distinguishable from each other.

"_The child deserves to know what she is— The lack of humanity in her is the big surprise— not a drop of human blood—Half and half— Earth, Sea— Dryad, Mer— Not Air and Ingo— not human at all."_

Older memories sweep in, of every time Saldowr or his Earth counterpart told Sapphire or Conor that they had Mer blood, and/or Earth, and that it was a good thing. Every time Conor told Saph that she belonged on land because she was human as well as Mer.

_Lies, all lies, they never told me the truth!_ Sapphire's thought is bitter and furious. _They could've told me whenever they wanted to, but no, they left me in the dark for five years after I just happened to find you!_

_Sapphire, omdhisserri._ I shush her, rubbing her hair – since I can't exactly run my fingers through it without hurting her. _I'm sure there's a good reason. _Whilst privately I'm thinking: _They probably knew this is how you'd react._

_Yeah, of course, _she snaps, _there's __**always**__ a good reason for __**everything**__!_

_Sapphire, stop it._

_No! I'm not going to just stop feeling like this! I can't even say it's because I'm human anymore!_

Cold tears spill across my shoulder as she sobs.

"Blue Gem!" a human girl hisses, making my kares shudder but lift her head obediently.

"Yeah?" she answers, her voice weak and dreadfully sombre.

"You— You— Traitor!" the other girl exclaims, to which Sapphire only bows her head in miserable acceptance of the accusation. "I always suspected, but this is just wrong! You're dating a fish! F-I-S-H!"

It randomly occurs to me that I shouldn't be so easily understanding her words.

"He's not a fish." Sapphire mumbles, still hunched against me, none of her natural aggression on display. "He's Mer."

"And they're the offspring of fish!" the other girl grabs one of Sapphire's hands, trying to pull her away, I instinctively wrap my arms around her waist, holding her safe, with me.

"No, they're not." Sapphire limply tries to shrug off the girl's hold. "Faro's not a fish, or Mer, or human to me Rainbow, he's my friend, and technically he's more human than I am." her voice grows hard as rocks.

"I don't care about whatever mixed-up voodoo blood mix the fish and you happen to have—!" 'Rainbow' shrieks quietly, pulling at Sapphire's arm again.

"Rainbow, _let go_." Sapphy interjects, briefly focussing on the girl and putting a little force into her words. "And let _it_ go. Conor never cheated on you, Elvira left over a year ago, and they were never actually together, she was just his puppy-love."

…

"Yeah, but what kind, _seal_?" Rainbow asks snidely.

I am about to launch into a string of annoyed rebukes when a voice stops us both.

"And, this, Blue Gem, is exactly what this organisation works to prevent. Seven Colours, shame on you, you should know better than to disapprove of good relationships between bni adm and btwlwt im."

It's weird, the words sound like a bunch of breathy consonants, but they somehow make perfect sense. They're the language of Earth, and Yvonne spoke it to Rainbow, because they both speak it, and so do I… CQ said 'relationships between humans and Mer'.

"Now, you're both to apologise to each other, and solve whatever it is you're bickering about, or you're confined to Air for a month."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow and I both yell as one in the same complete horror and indignation, then we look at each other and smile at the unison.

"You both heard me, no dolphins or dogs, nor fish or cats, no oceans or caves, nor coves or groves, for an entire month, if I hear you arguing again today." After her speech CQ wanders off, leaving the pair of us in terrified silence.

"Can she really do that?" I ask in a sickened whisper as Faro taps on my shoulder.

"Please don't argue." he says to us both in uncertain English, but smiles at his success.

"Well, we could debate instead." Rainbow suggests, "it's like arguing but without raising your voice… wait, you can speak English?!"

Faro's grin grows a notch "Yes, whenever Sapphire's around. I can read it from her mind."

Rainbow does something a little weird, like gasps and sobs and a heart attack combined. "B-but— that's creepy. Whenever we have group discussions we'll have translators of each blood type combination sat in each group, and it takes forever. D'you think you could teach the rest of us that trick?!" but she's smiling too.

Faro shakes his head, entwining his fingers with mine – _when did he take my hand, how does he do that?_ "Not possible, it doesn't work unless you can enter each other's minds as freely as we do… Can you tell me what you were saying a moment ago, there was some I couldn't understand."

And before Rainbow can answer, I do it for her "Humans and Mer, she said it in the Earth language."

Rain smiles faintly "Pretty much, You know, Saph, I already knew you were besties with one of the…" her familiar beam glows across her face "_Mer_, Sadie told me when I found you missing during the flood, but I couldn't get over the idea of how creepy," she glances at Faro "no offence meant, they are – until just now, you look so cute together!"

"Um…" I too look uneasily at Faro, then back at my friend "Thanks?"

"No problem, what are friends for?"

"Getting back together with Conor?" I ask hopefully, and tentatively.

She bites her lips "Well, um, uh, I might need some time before that…"

"At least apologise to him, you broke his heart."

"Fine, but later, you two gotta pick a project, we're supposed to work here y'know, not just natter… Wait, what's your excuse to be here, cos Conor ain't gonna buy being with me at the moment, will he?"

I smirk "I'm not as stupid as I look, I did think about my excuse a little more than usual!"

"Well?" Rainbow asks expectantly.

"I said I was doing sunrise inspired artwork, and might be hard to find cos I'll be looking for backdrops. I even hid my art utensils." I say with pride.

"Uh huh, but what about when they want proof?"

"Proof of what?"

"Like a picture! Won't they wanna see whatever art you did, or pretended to do or whatever?!"

"Oh," I mumble, crestfallen, "I didn't think of that."

"Well, I suggest while you're finding out about our projects, that you think about _that_ too!" Rainbow walks away, joining up with some of the Dryads and disappearing into the mass of plants.

"I get the feeling we're mostly forgiven for my being a 'fish' and your 'dating' me?" Faro murmurs with a gigantic smirk on his face.

"Yeah," I smirk too, inspired by the mention of 'fish' "Rainbow's _cod_ for that." Faro groans at the pun, but wraps his arms around me in such a contradiction I feel I have to ask "What are you doing?"

"_Codling_ you."

I break from his hold, giggling "In your _bream_s."

Faro thinks for a moment, before putting on a dristressed face "Can't we _discus_ this?"

"You'll have to do _betta_ than that!"

"There's _blenny_ more where that came from."

"Is that _seahorse_ly the _bass_t you can do?"

"I'll put you in your _plaice_, I can play _nase_ty when I want to!"

"That's _bleak_, _kanyu_ _cobbler_ up anymore?"

Faro grins but shakes his head, admitting defeat "_Saury_, I can't take it any_mora_."

I leap up, earlier depression forgotten – after all, what did the news really change, this random pun-battle proved I'm still me – and pump my fists "_Hussar_! Vic_dory_ is mine!"

Faro rolls his eyes, smiling brilliantly at me "Shush, I've heard enough of those to last a lifetime."

I frown in mock disappointment, unable to resist the temptation for just one more "Aww, are you _char_?"

Faro narrows his eyes "Yes, now _shad_dup!"

I sit back down, "O_koi_, you're right, we really do need to stop now."

But we're both grinning at each other helplessly, and I'm immeasurably happy that Faro has the same ridiculous sense of humour as I do.

"I've got one more," he whispers, mischief lighting his eyes as he fiddles with a slightly-less-tangled-than-the-rest lock of my hair.

"Fine, go on then, but only if you promise we'll stop afterwards."

He nods, tickling my nose with the ends of my hair "I was going to day that you're a _dab_ hand at this, my _rock beauty_."

"Wait, how is that a pun?"

"Sapphire is a stone."

"Oh…" I murmur with a hot blush painting my cheeks "Um, we should probably do what Rainbow was saying now…"

"If there's to be any point of us being here instead of somewhere else, then yes."

So we do, we wander – can the Mer wander? – off and invesitgate the various groups around the edge of the pool of water. Some of the projects are incredibly boring, some don't even make much sense to me – probably because of all the science and/or maths involved, and some look rather interesting.

Yvonne – _must remember to think of her as CQ from now on_ – takes me aside to point out that it would be best if I'm not working on a project with Faro or Rainbow, though she calls them Guiding Light and Seven Colours. I stare at her for a moment, hurt by the separation from my friends.

"You can if you really are drawn in by the same project, but it is better for people to work on what they believe in, not simply what their friends are doing. Also, I feel you should investigate the Dryad's assignments, since you have just as much of their blood in you as you have Mer."

So, awkwardly I bid a temporary goodbye to Faro, and go in search of Rainbow to find out if any of the more Earthy tasks are appealing in any way.

…

Jill gently pushed the slide into place under the microscope's lense, purely out of curiosity. She had remembered the boy's blood sample, and had intended to donate it to one of the nearby hospitals when its consistency drew the attention of the part of her that loved to ask questions.

The red – very red, too red – liquid sloshed in the bag far too readily, runnier and thinner than blood, more like water. Because of the unusual state of it, she has decided to examine it for abnormalities herself, feeling she owed it to whoever might receive the blood that might very well – according to her first glance's suspicions – have been tampered with.

Increased magnification was one of her favourite things about science's advancements through time. Being able to see far deeper into an object than with her unaided eye was precious to her in ways she couldn't describe or explain, and she had tried.

But what the extreme focus of the scope's lense showed her, at first she did not believe, even though her training and upbringing demanded she believe what she could see and prove.

"Uh, Dave, come look at this please!" she called to one of her colleagues, the most sceptical, and therefore the one who must surely be able to make her see sense in what she'd found.

"Sure, what?" he asked, appearing at her side.

"I, I was just examining the boy's blood sample, cos it looks a little weird, like it's been watered down or somethin'. Well… my eyes have gotta be playing tricks on me, cos I swear I can see AFP's."

* * *

**Sooo tired, but really glad I forced myself to finish. I'm quite proud of some bits of this.**

**Okay, I know I've made some major risks with this one, introducing a lot of new ideas – though I personally believe they're not unfounded, since I kept within the vagueness of Dunmore's books :)**

**And, just so you know, AFP, in this context is 'anti-freeze proteins' which are a part of a fish's (and some marine mammals I think) blood make-up which – kinda obviously – keeps them from freezing in the cold water— So it's pretty major for a scientist to find that in a 'human'.**

**Think that's all I gotta say, but any questions or comments, you know what to do! :D**

**xxx GC**


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